A New Timeline
by Shawn45
Summary: With death certain for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, they make a daring attempt to go back to change it all. With all their power remaining, will they try to change things for the better, or keep history the same? NaruSaku, SasuTenten Discontinued
1. A Blast from the Future

REWRITTEN

This is the start of my extensive rewrite project, in which I am going to rewrite (Or attempt to anyway) this entire story, and then continue on. This will accomplish three things: First, catch it up to canon (though where in Canon it fits is a little ambiguous. It clearly takes place before Sasuke kills Orochimaru, but Itachi is dead, so we'll just say that it became an AU after the Finding Sasuke arc). Secondly, to weed out all the plots and things that I dislike. Finally, to fix all my grammatical mistakes and just make the story flow better. Added fourth: Cutting out a lot of the cussing – jeez, why did they cuss so much?!

In this rewrite project I will have REWRITTEN at the top, as you see now, so you know that the chapter has been redone. If it doesn't have that up there, that means the following chapters will be 3 years behind these new ones, and some plot threads might be completely dropped that appear in them. However, feel free to continue on, just realize I wrote this when I was a freshman in high school, so it isn't entirely good.

I actually realize I am extensively revising and editing the chapters rather than rewriting them. Regardless, I will continue to write Rewritten at the top.

With that out of the way, please enjoy the story.

XxXxXxX

This was it, all the work, time, and effort, had all gone to waste…

Naruto and Sakura were caught, both in the middle of the Sound base. They had a huge horrible battle with the ninja of the village along with their leader Orochimaru. They seem to have been winning for quite some time, but it's often said that quantity is better than quality. Even the Kyuubi could not save them from their doomed venture.

Both were tied down, for they were to be executed in the middle of the sound village. Hundreds gathered around to watch, as two of their strongest enemies were about to die.

"Well," Naruto sighed as he looked up into the face of his executioner, "I hope you live well Sasuke…" He looked over to his side where Sakura was tied in the same way he was, their heads rested against a piece of wood, ready to be sliced within a few minutes. "Sakura-chan, I'm sorry."

Her eyes soften as they looked over at Naruto, she wanted to say something that would increase his spirits, but both of them were exhausted, and were about to be killed by their friend. "No Naruto, I'm sorry…" She muttered sadly. Sasuke just looked with a cold look.

"I shouldn't have come here without Tsunade and Jiraiya to back us up… I was just so happy to see Sasuke-kun again…" She felt a few tears begin to sting her eyes, but quickly blinked a couple of time preventing them from coming out.

Orochimaru came up as they stopped talking; he had an evil smirk on his face and said, "Naruto and Sakura, I would like to thank the both of you for taking out so many Akatsuki agents for me, with their numbers weakened so much, they are hardly considered a threat now." He looked to Sasuke and continued, "Sasuke was able to kill Itachi because of you two, and is going to give me his body willingly. Now, before that, I will enjoy watching as he kills two people who still consider him a friend. Two so much like my horrible teammates from before."

Orochimaru growled as he then said, "Sasuke, you may continue whenever you wish." Orochimaru went over to Sasuke's side and saw both Naruto and Sakura look up sorrowfully at their lost friend.

"Sakura, before we die, I have one last thing to say…" Naruto muttered as he looked over to her. "I love you." He turned his head back to Sasuke, not wanting to see her reaction. All he wanted to do was to get out those words to the one he loved before he was to die.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered, "I…" She looked down at the ground, "I love you too." She closed her eyes and tears began to seep through.

Naruto looked over at her in disbelief. _Damn it! I hate how bitter sweet it is right now, I finally know she loves me, but I'm about to die… just great… _He sighed and grinned over to her, "Thanks."

Sasuke watched on, it seemed as though he thought little of what everyone said, but inside he was having a huge debate…

Kill them! Sasuke's inner self said, he was about to begin to raise his sword when another voice from deeper inside his conscious spoke up, Hell no, they're my friends!

_But I have no more purpose in life… I killed Itachi and Orochimaru is going to take my body… _Sasuke responded to the voice.

_Wait! _He had a sudden realization,_ I can barely remember, a jutsu that may get us out of this! But it requires too much Chakra. If we do it together even, I don't know…_

Orochimaru was growing impatient. "Sasuke, kill them now." When Sasuke didn't respond in anyway his features twisted in anger, "Damn brat, LISTEN TO ME! KILL THEM NOW!"

Kill them! Again his conscious tried to say, NO! He responded back to it, Kill him! He inwardly sighed, damn it, what do I do…

Sasuke grabbed the blade of his sword from his belt and pulled it out slowly, and raised it in the air. Both Naruto and Sakura looked on knowing this was their end. Both told each other their feelings, yet their only regret was that Sasuke would not see the light.

Orochimaru smiled as the blade slowly came up, but his happy expression quickly turned into shock as Sasuke swung the blade in the circular fashion and stabbed him right in the chest. The blades poisons went into his body and began to mix with his blood, and as Sasuke pulled the blade out, the man fell to the ground and blood flew out of his mouth.

"How… Could you… you damn… brat…" He gasped out, obviously in huge amounts of pain. He fell down, both his hands going into the hole in his chest, he screamed as loud as he could before he blacked out. All the hundreds of ninja watching we stunned by the move.

Sasuke cut both Naruto and Sakura free, and said, "I'm sorry guys. I shouldn't have come to this bastard for help." He turned his head and spit on the soon to be corpse of his once mentor. He looked around at all the people getting prepared to fight them, even though the three standing at that moment could be considered the three strongest people alive, two were completely exhausted, and one could not fight off hundreds, if not thousands.

"Sasuke…" Naruto growled, "He looked up, rage evident in his face, "That's all you have to say! We nearly died trying to save you countless times, and that snake bastard was always a step ahead of us and found a way to evade us, then when you finally turn back into all light and happy Sasuke, all you have to say is SORRY?!"

Sasuke looked at him for a moment before saying, "Yeah, pretty much."

Before they both could argue longer, Sakura smacked both of them across the head and pointed to the angry crowd of ninja around them, "Guys, we got out of one situation, but we're not going to get out of this one…"

Naruto sighed and nodded, "At least we managed to kill Orochimaru then, and Sakura admitted she loves me." He smiled goofily.

Sakura blushed and punched him in the head and said, "I thought we were going to die! I didn't want to leave you in the dark!"

"So, you'd only have told me if we were about to die in some other situation?" Naruto asked slightly confused, "So does that mean, you wouldn't have told me in the near future if we were to succeed here?"

"Eh…" Sakura didn't know how to respond to that, "Just get the fact that I love you down, it's not like we're going to live much longer to advance our relationship!"

True to her words, the enemy ninja all pulled out their kunai and other weapons and prepared to attack; Sasuke started a very long sequence of hand seals and yelled, "Naruto! Sakura, grab onto my shoulders!"

Naruto and Sakura hesitated before both of them grabbed a hold of his shoulders. Shortly after this, a purple colored chakra came up around the trio and covered them all. Within seconds, they three that were there vanished from the sight of all the ninja advancing.

Kabuto ran up to Orochimaru who slowly regaining his conscious and blood flowed freely from his mouth. "Kabuto…" He muttered silently, "That is the forbidden jutsu that was in the scroll I made… He must have gotten to it… while I wasn't looking…" He coughed a couple of times, "Do you remember the technique that he used?"

Kabuto scanned his memory and replied, "Yes Orochimaru-sama, a time travel jutsu. It requires vast amount of chakra, more than both of us are capable of though… I'd be very surprised if those three made it…"

"We're going to… use it…" Orochimaru coughed out more blood. "We'll just… borrow these guys chakra…" He said as he let a sinister smile grace his face.

Kabuto snickered a little and prepared the hands seals, he did it fast enough so that Orochimaru wouldn't die. When he finished, he used the purple chakra surrounding them to form a hand shape and go cover all the rest as a sort of tribute to the chakra. Suddenly, they all disappeared; the village of the sound was now completely empty.

(Konoha, in a park.)

It was late at night; all the lights within the village were off, besides the night lamps set up around the town. The wind softly blew over the treetops, making a nice calming sound; suddenly the wind picked up quickly and began to circle around one particular spot. A dark purple chakra sphere surrounded the spot, and in an instant, three children fell onto the ground.

"Damn it…" What did you do?" Asked a groggy Naruto as he attempted to lift himself off the ground. He only failed and fell back on his butt. He stopped talking when he heard what his voice sounded like.

Sasuke didn't reply, he opened his eyes and closed them again, he had to adjust to the darkness, for now, he could see nothing. "I…" He couldn't see their expressions, but could feel them looking in his direction. His voice sounded so small compared to what it was only minutes before.

"You brought us back in time." Sakura said, in a small voice as well, "From how we speak, I'd say we're nine, ten years old or so." She stood up and said, "So, we're back before we graduated from the academy."

It was complete silence before Naruto exploded, "WHAT!" It sounded almost comical in his young age, but the matter at hand was too important to notice those kinds of things, "You brought us back? AFTER we killed the bastard and pretty much all of Akatsuki?! We put the whole village in danger, AGAIN!"

Sasuke was silent. Sakura was for a moment too before saying, "Do you think we should look around now? It's not like we can go back to the future to prevent ourselves from going into the past."

Sasuke and Naruto both grunted in agreement, and the three stood up, their clothes all were way too oversized for them all. They all managed to at least have their shirts cover down to their knees. "This sucks…" Naruto sighed, "All the recognition I earned, went down the drain as soon as we came here." He sighed once more. "Damn it, it's going to take another nine years to regain it all."

"I don't know Naruto, we have all our knowledge from before, and all the chakra as well, and the only thing we have to do now is get our bodies to relearn how to control it." Sasuke mentioned as the trio got out of the park and wandered onto a road, and walked and only spoke in whispers so ninja or villagers couldn't hear what they were saying.

"I don't understand though, the technique usually requires a 'tribute' of large amounts of chakra. Usually it would begin to drain out chakra capabilities and make us have very small amounts, but I offered it a large amount to come back so far."

Naruto responded, "Kyuubi…"

Sakura grabbed his hand, and smiled at him, thought slightly blushing herself and nodded towards him. This action though, brought her now long hair into her face and she used her free hand to get it all behind her head again.

Naruto smiled towards the girl and snickered as she tried to fix her hair. "Not use to having long hair again eh?" He asked.

"Not really." She sounded slightly annoyed.

Sasuke looked over to both of them and laughed a little before getting serious, "This is a new timeline, whatever you do, will be written in history as how it is, and you cannot back up onto the old timeline we came from, that doesn't exist anymore." He looked serious and said, "Sakura, if you start doing this with Naruto in public, then you cannot say to people you've been through many things together."

Sakura nodded in thought. Naruto sighed and was about to remove his hand before Sakura gripped it tighter and said, "So what? Ino-pig can have you to herself for all I care."

Naruto looked shocked and Sasuke smirked and said, "Ok, now that we have your relationship down, we need to figure out what we're going to do with the amount of chakra we have. We can all easily outrank an ANBU agent easily with how much we have, however…" He looked around and their faces were blushing from his earlier comment, and then turned serious as it traveled to chakra.

"However, we can't let people know we have so much, they'll question us, and even think we're spies." Naruto sighed as he spoke this. Both gave him shocked looks, "What? I am not an idiot! I could see where Sasuke was going with that!"

Sakura sighed and said, "So, what are we going to do about it? Should we go speak to Tsu…" She stopped mid-sentence, "I mean, Sarutobi-sama?"

"Not tonight…" Sasuke sighed, "Here, I'll let both of you stay here tonight." He motioned his hands to the Uchiha district that Sasuke led them into. "My house is over here." He led them through the place, throughout the whole trip, Naruto and Sakura both felt unnerved by the place. This is where so many were ruthlessly slaughtered that night three years ago. Naruto shuddered, and Sakura leaned against him.

Once Sasuke led them to his house, he closed the front door, and behind them was a hallway. "At the end of the hallway to the left is the living room, we can sleep in there for tonight." Sasuke said as walked along with his friends.

He had not been here for almost six years; it brought way too many unpleasant memories for the child. He shook his head of the thoughts, _I can't think of those right now, _He then passed the hallway that led to where both his mother and father were killed. He felt very uneasy at that moment.

"Sasuke, no offense, but this place really gives me the creeps." Naruto chirped up from behind the boy. He looked around sadly and nodded.

"Yeah, unfortunately it also frightens me somewhat." He turned back, around, but felt Sakura and Naruto both put a hand on each of his shoulders.

Sakura was the first to speak, "Sasuke, you don't have to go through all this torture alone."

Naruto nodded and said, "We're your friends, we'll help in anyway we can."

Sasuke smiled, "Yes, I know I can trust both of you. I don't understand how both of you can forgive me so easily though." He never felt like this… He always tried his best to hide his emotions that he had been unfamiliar to them, he had after all, killed them for almost fifteen years. He felt a tear come down his eye.

"Happiness…?" He muttered.

His friends looked at him with a quizzical look and he shook his head, "It's nothing." He assured them. He opened the door to the room he had been leading them to and vaguely remembered a light switch to his left. He clicked it on and proceeded to enter the room.

Once the three sat themselves down Naruto started the conversation, "Sasuke, are you going to go to that Snake freak again this time?"

"No." He said with a growl, "No way in hell am I going back to that bastard!"

Naruto sighed and said, "Good, because if you did, this time I'd seriously kick your ass at the Valley."

"As if." Sasuke snorted.

The three of them all sat around a small table in the middle of the room. There was a large couch on one side, and a small chair on the other. A fireplace was over to the side, which looked like it hadn't been used in years, and the light was right above them all. Naruto and Sakura both got on the couch, while Sasuke sat on the chair.

"Ok, Naruto, Sakura, we obviously have to hide our power from our classmates, and tomorrow morning, first thing we'll do is go speak to the Hokage about this. After classes, we NEED to learn how to regain control of our chakra; we barely are even touching it right now. We've been in the academy for almost three years now." He motioned to a calendar he had on the wall, according to that, which I update daily, we're all nine years old."

They all nodded. "Ok-" He then yawned, "let's get some rest for now actually, I am beat." Naruto sighed as he grabbed a blanket that hung over the top of the couch and wrapped himself in it; there was no argument from either Sakura or Sasuke. Sakura went next to Naruto and wrapped herself in one as well.

Sasuke watched his friends sleep, _I do not know why, but thank you for accepting me again Naruto, Sakura. I promise I will do everything in my power to help us succeed this time around. _With that declaration, Sasuke pulled a blanket over himself, and attempted to sleep. Thankfully, sleep actually came blissfully quick for the young Uchiha.

It's always easier to sleep when friends are close by.

The next morning the trio woke up quite early. The Sun was not up, and thus it made them all agree that it was definitely before six in the morning.

Sasuke luckily had clothes laying around for his friends to wear. Unfortunately, they were Uchiha clothes. Sasuke wore what he used to wear those days, an oversized shirt and white shorts. Naruto wore a white shirt, with an Uchiha crest on the back, and the white shorts Sasuke wore. Sakura on the other hand, wore a light blue oversized shirt like Sasuke's with the Uchiha crest again on the back, and some shorts as well.

"You have a huge variety in clothes Sasuke." Naruto muttered, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"At least I had something that would fit your small body." Sasuke sighed, with Sakura giggling a little.

"Hey! In five years I'll be taller than BOTH of you!" He shouted pointing his finger towards both of them. His stomach grumbled and he said, "Heh, so, you guys want to go get Ramen really quick?"

Sakura sighed and said, "Sure." Sasuke nodded his head too.

"Afterwards we have to go tell the Hokage."

(Ichiraku Ramen Bar)

"Oh man…" It has been weeks since I have had this stuff!" Naruto said in a singsong voice as he slurped up the noodles and had an increasing stack of bowls next to him. Both Sasuke and Sakura looked on with some interest, both having similar thoughts:

How can he do that?

_Where does it all go?_

Despite these thoughts, they politely didn't interfere with Narutos eating habit.

"So Naruto. Who're your new friends?" Teuchi, the owner of the stall asked.

Naruto stopped eating momentarily and turned to them both and said, "This guy here is Uchiha Sasuke, he's my best friend." Sasuke waved from Naruto's left. "This girl here though, is-."

He was interrupted when Sakura said, "I'm his girlfriend, Haruno Sakura." She said with a satisfied smile on.

"I wanted to say that…" He sighed dejectedly, "Old man? Are you alright?"

Teuchi got out of his shock and said, "Aren't you too young to have a girlfriend?"

Naruto laughed, "You're never too young!"

_If I use the child's logic, then you can never be too old either! _The man thought to himself. A huge smile appeared on his face, "I'm glad for you Naruto!"

Naruto gave him his thanks, and left him the money. The children left the place shortly after that, but it didn't take long for trouble to set in.

Naruto sighed as he saw all the glares he was receiving from the people walking by. _I don't want to have to go through this again. _He let out a long-winded sigh as a rock missed him by only an inch.

Sasuke was about to retort, but looking at Naruto do nothing; he wisely sat there and did nothing as well.

Sakura was a different story unfortunately…

"HEY!" She turned to the man that threw the stone, "What was that for!"

The man gave her a glance. He was rather tall. He was obviously not a ninja, as seen by the way he walked and his stance. His eyes looked into hers and said, "You shouldn't be playing with that brat girl, you don't know what he can do to you."

"What the hell are YOU talking about?" She grabbed Naruto and said, "You can't possibly think Naruto here is a brat – he's too lovable!"

"Girl, didn't your mother teach you manners? Cussing like that, and worst of all defending him. Truly you were not taught well."

Sakura was beginning to gather chakra at her fist, but Naruto quickly grabbed it. When she glanced over to him he shook his head. "Don't." He whispered. She sighed and complied.

They began to walk away, ignoring all the stares they were receiving. "Sakura-chan, as much as I appreciate you defending me, don't do it. I don't want to bring hate upon your family as well."

"But," She said, but quickly stopped and said, "I'm sorry… I didn't realize how bad your childhood was. No, wait currently is." Tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes.

Naruto saw this and quickly tried to think of something. He did the first thing that came to mind when trying to calm someone down. He gave her a hug. "It's ok Sakura-chan." Of course, being smaller than the person you're hugging means that her head would not reach his shoulder, instead her neck would go there. Luckily she bent her knees slightly to be able to make it less awkward.

"Please," Sasuke sighed, "Enough of the sappy stuff, you're killing me!"

The two stayed like that for a few minutes, to the dismay of Sasuke, until they finally broke apart. Sakura smiled and kissed Naruto's cheek. "Aw, only the cheek Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto, we're only nine right now! Wouldn't it be a little weird if I did that?" She sighed at his obliviousness.

He quickly pecked her on the lips and said, "Hm… not really."

She touched her lips and sighed, muttering idiot under her breath as a bright blush came onto her face.

"So!" Naruto turned to Sasuke who was simply leaning against a building, doing nothing, "Ready to get going Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Finally!" Sasuke let out a large sigh, "I thought you two would never stop flirting with each other." Both blushed slightly at that comment. "Now let's get going, we don't need anymore distractions as there has already been."

The three children all walked towards the tower that was within eyesight now. The streets of the village were now crowded as people went to work and shopped for various things. The sun was rising up, and it was visible off in the distant east. There was no wind at the moment, and it made the whole place have a nice warm feeling.

Once they made it to the tower, the three walked up a series of stairs, and then finally made it into a room that had chairs to the left where people would wait. In front of the was the assistant of the Hokage, who was currently sitting there, twirling her pen in her hands, completely bored out of her mind.

The scene didn't change much until Sasuke walked up and cleared his throat. The woman jumped at the sudden sound and looked at the child, "What do you want?" She asked, her heart still pounding.

"I'd like to see the Hokage." The woman was skeptical about letting a child see the Hokage, until Sakura came up to her.

"Can we Pleeeaaassee see him?" She said giving the woman the puppy dog eye look.

The woman twitched until the gaze of Sakura, until she finally shrugged and said, "Yes, he's available to see you three." The three walked pass her and entered the office. _I have fought enemy ninja, but I can't beat that look… How sad. _

(Hokage's Office)

The Office of the Hokage was a pretty square room. There was the Hokage's desk straight from the door; there were many bookshelves to both the left and right, and a couple of chairs in front of the desk. There were many different items on the shelves, ranging from scrolls to weapons. In the chair behind the desk however, sat the Hokage.

He wore the traditional Hokage garment; it was a sign of respect and loyalty to ones village, of course one person never really cared for that, and he happened to be-

"Hey! Old man! I haven't seen you in a long time! Have you missed me?" Naruto barged into the room, and ran straight at the Hokage and jumped over the desk. He quickly gave the man a hug, crushing all the bones within him. "I miss you so much!" He said as he squeezed the life out of the man.

"Naruto…" The old man crocked, "You're crushing me…" He wheezed out.

Naruto quickly jumped off and rubbed the back of his head, "Eh, heh, sorry Old man, it's just been a long time and all you see."

"Naruto…" He wheezed again, "I saw you yesterday right before you left your house." He looked Naruto over and asked, "Why are you wearing an Uchiha outfit?"

Sasuke walked forward and said, "I gave it to him, he needed it anyways, orange is a really distasteful color." Naruto glared at the boy. "Anyways, Hokage-sama, we all came here for something important."

Sarutobi looked over at the pink haired girl with them, "What brings an Uchiha and a Haruno here with Naruto?" He asked slightly confused.

"We're his friends." Sasuke answered, Sakura shot him a glare and he rephrased that, "I am his friend, she's his girlfriend."

The Hokage now had a really confused face on, "When did all this happen?"

"Over the years Hokage-sama." Sakura answered. She looked around and said, "Hokage-sama, can you put a silencing seal around this room? What we have to tell you is really important."

Sasuke spoke up saying, "Also put some chakra barriers up so no one can feel chakra from outside of this room." The Hokage looked at them all suspiciously, but did as he was asked.

Once he finished it all he asked, "What is so important?"

"I'll start." Sasuke stated, "I'm nine years old physically, mentally, I'm eighteen. Same with both Naruto and Sakura over here." He pointed over his shoulders to the two who gave a small wave, "We come from the future." Sasuke said with dead seriousness in his voice.

Unfortunately, when a child tries to act serious, it's too cute to be taken seriously.

"Right Sasuke, please though, what is really going on?" He asked, a smile was on his face.

Naruto sighed, "He's telling the truth Old man, we came back right before we were about to die." Naruto trailed off as he remembered the moment, when he returned to the matter at hand he said, "You want proof?"

"Very much so." Sarutobi answered.

Naruto nodded. "Sasuke, I don't know if I can still do this, you try to do your technique as well."

Both boys stood in front of the Hokage and began to gather chakra at their hands. Naruto has a spiral of wind, and Sasuke was beginning to get electricity to form. Both were obviously having a hard time trying to do it, for their faces were screwed in concentration.

Suddenly Sasuke couldn't hold it and turned it off, not without burning his hand, Naruto couldn't do his move either, and it backfired, sending him across the room and hitting the wall. "Ouch…"

Sakura sighed and walked over to Sasuke. "This might be better proof Hokage-sama." She said as her hands turned a light green color and repaired the damaged skin on Sasuke's hands.

The Hokage sat shocked, his pipe slowly sliding out of his mouth. Two kids were in the beginning stages of doing Chidori and Rasengan, and one of them could easily do medical jutsu. _What is going on here? _All of them easily had as much or more chakra than himself even.

"Sakura-chan, how can you control your chakra so much easier than us?" Naruto complained as he climbed out of the pile of books he was in.

Sakura walked over and gave him a hand out of the mess and said, "Remember, I naturally have good control of my chakra."

"But that was always because you had smaller amounts." Naruto said confused.

Sakura sighed and said, "I have control of some of it, not all of it." This was evident by the sweat that appeared on her forehead. She quickly wiped it away.

Naruto accepted the answer and got up and walked back to the desk where Sasuke had already sat down and was engaged in a staring contest with the Hokage. The Hokage finally broke the silence and eye contact and said, "You three… You're all formidable! As children you all easily have as much chakra as I do, when you learn to regain control it all, you'll be unbeatable."

"You really think so?" Naruto asked in wonder. Stars were practically bulging out of his eyes, "That's awesome!"

Sasuke sighed at Naruto's behavior and turned to the Hokage, "You believe us now?"

Sarutobi sighed, "As unbelievable as it is, yes, I do…" He leaned back and asked, "What happened that caused you to come back to the past?"

"We were surrounded by enemy ninja; our chances of surviving were zero. We couldn't have lived if we didn't do this." Sasuke explained.

"That's very vague."

Naruto sighed, "Orochimaru is an evil bastard, he created the village of the sound in about three years from now, and he put the cursed seal on Sasuke, he survives the attack. Fast forward a little the village is attacked by both the Sand and Sound during the Chuunin exam, we win, but at a cost." Naruto looks down for a second, "Anyways, Jiraiya decides to train me and teaches me Rasengan, we go to look for Tsunade for… purposes, and that's when I first saw Akatsuki. They're an organization that wants the demons within people, like Kyuubi for instance."

At the mention of Kyuubi, Sarutobi asked, "Do they know of it?" He gestured over to Sakura and Sasuke.

"Yeah, they do." Naruto assured him. "Anyway, where was I?"

"I'll continue." Sasuke volunteered. "After Naruto goes away from Konoha, I follow because I hear Itachi is going after him, once I find Naruto, Itachi was there and completely destroyed me. After that I fell into a coma that only a very advanced medic ninja could heal. Naruto finds Tsunade, and after some difficulties, they return to Konoha."

"What is the real purpose of bringing Tsunade to Konoha?" Sarutobi asked.

The three children eyed each other, unsure of what to do. "Well…" Naruto began.

"We can't tell you the reason, sorry Hokage-sama." Sakura answered. "I'll say the next part." She said. "Naruto came back with Tsunade. After she heals Sasuke, they both get into a huge fight. Our sensei gets them both out of it, but it was too late. The damage it could do was already done; our team was beginning to break. Sasuke accepted the invitation the Sound sent him to join them. Shikamaru, who was promoted to Chuunin, gathered a team to go bring him back. After the whole ordeal, Naruto and Sasuke have another fight, Sasuke won simply because of a promise I made Naruto keep."

"What was the promise?" Sarutobi asked in wonder.

Naruto said what he remembered of it, "Promise me you'll bring Sasuke back, Naruto." He sighed, "I said it was a promise of a lifetime. Of course, I failed…" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Anyway," Sasuke interrupted before it could become another moment between the two, "Naruto goes on a training trip out of the village with Jiraiya-sama, I work with Orochimaru, and Sakura trained under Tsunade-sama. After about two years, Naruto returns, and they have to hurry, because the snake freak wanted to take control of my body." He shuddered, "I hear that both He and Sakura were able to take down members of Akatsuki as they began to become active again. Gaara was the first demon to fall-."

"Who's this Gaara person?" The Hokage asked.

Naruto answered, "He's like me, he carries the one tailed demon, Shukaku." Sarutobi nodded his head.

"I see. Please continue." He gestured with his hand for the boy to continue."

"Akatsuki captures most of the demons; the only one they hadn't captured was Naruto's. Of course, at this time, I finally was able to kill Itachi." He grimaced at the memory, "I learned then that he was ordered to kill my clan." He couldn't help but glare at the Hokage, but he continued on anyway, "Once that was done with I returned to the Sound Village with the Snake, simply waiting days for when I was used to become the next body of the freak."

Naruto picked up, "When Sakura and I hear news of this, we quickly went out of the village as fast as we could. We entered the sound village, knowing our time was very limited and destroyed anyone that got in our way. Unfortunately after hours we were finally taken down. Orochimaru had us tied in the center of town and told us of a 'surprise'." He glanced at Sasuke, "He came out completely void of emotion, Sakura and I knew we were going to die, so we spoke to each other, and after Orochimaru spoke it must have made a spark go off in Sasuke's head."

"After that, Sasuke stabbed Orochimaru, and used a weird Jutsu to save us from the death that awaited us, and we ended up nine years in the past, with all our power from the old timeline." Sakura finished.

Sarutobi took a few minutes to absorb everything he heard. He nodded his head twice. "I see, I am assuming that was just the cliff notes version?"

"Yes Hokage-sama." Sakura said, "It would take days to go over everything."

The three looked at him expectantly. Sasuke spoke up and said, "What do you want us to do Hokage-sama?"

"Well." He began, still dazed from everything he has heard and seen, "That was quite a tale, and from the evidence, it's at least plausible…" He thought for a moment, with the three looking on nervously, "Well, it would be useless to keep you in the academy with such strength. If Naruto and Sasuke learn to control it, you three would be a very powerful group."

"I have decided." He said after another few minutes, "I will keep you three in the academy to say goodbye to your friends… and hello as well, considering you three haven't seen them in quite some time." He chuckled before continuing, "Afterwards, you three will be trained until you're ready to become ANBU agents, what's the estimated time that you will regain your control?"

Sakura spoke up, knowing she was the most knowledgeable on this kind of thing, "Well, according to out current control, I'd say if we do the chakra controlling exercises from bottom to top, we'll be able to regain control in a year or so."

Sarutobi nodded, "Very well, this is your last week at the academy, it will allow me time to set up a program for you three. This will last for a year, or until you all gain control, which ever comes first. After this, you'll all be promoted to ANBU rank, though we won't allow them to know who you all are." He glanced at Naruto, "Some incidents could occur that I'd rather we skip over."

The three children nodded. Sasuke said, "Thanks Hokage-sama, we appreciate it."

"I'll see you in a week, Old Man!" Naruto said as he grinned happily and put his hands behind his head.

After that the three left the office after the Hokage dispelled the jutsus. He simply leaned back in his chair and sighed, _what a day!_ He closed his eyes; _I need to think about everything they have told me. I need to milk every detail about the future, and-_

"Hokage-sama!" His assistant called.

"What is it?" He asked, dreading the answer.

She walked in carrying a stack of papers; "The paperwork has just arrived, would you like to do it now?"

Sarutobi went over the large stack of paper, and could feel a sting in his eyes. "Just put them here, I'll do it all later…"

When the woman left, the Hokage's head fell on the desk, and he sighed heavily, "I. Hate. Paperwork!"


	2. What Friends are For

REWRITTEN

Here's chapter two!

DISCLAIMER - I don't own Naruto.

Note before we start, I completely forgot about the super Naruto hacks where he uses his Kage Bunshin to get him powerful in very little time. I think I'm going to have Naruto not use this, and make him not know about until later... muuuuch later.

"Speaking"

_Thinking_

---

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all walked out of the tower, it was probably a few hours until noon, and that could only mean one thing…

"We're late for class!" Sakura shouted. She grabbed Naruto's hand and Sasuke by the back of the shirt and ran as fast as she could. When Naruto slipped, she simply dragged him along the dirt road.

Halfway there, Sakura's energy was used up, and she sat down on a nearby bench gasping for breath. "Damn," She muttered, "I forgot, we're not in our old bodies anymore. We have to train ourselves hard so we can make the Hokage's expectations…" She accepted Naruto's hand and was lifted up off the bench.

She had stopped in the middle of town at a rather large water fountain. Various high quality shops were around it, and benches surrounded the fountain along with various different plants. The trio sat on one of the benches around the fountain, yet again ignoring all the glares that Naruto was making them receive.

"Ok, we're obviously not going to make it in time." Naruto sighed dejectedly. "Man, I didn't know how much time passed in there."

Sasuke nodded, "We'll get there eventually… It's not like we need to learn anything in there anyway, just a quick week in there, then we'll begin our real training."

The sun had risen above the buildings now, and the heat was quite relaxing on their small bodies as they simply sat there thinking. People walked pass them ignoring or glaring at Naruto, until he snapped out of his chain of thought.

"We should get there now." He said as he slid off the bench. "Come on."

Sasuke grunted, meaning he agreed with the blonde, even though he didn't like it. He slid off following Sakura whose legs were still a little wobbly from running so far and fast so early. Naruto kneeled down in front of her as an invitation to get on his back.

"No," She said, "I couldn't."

Naruto snickered and said, "Why not? I don't mind at all." At that Sakura smiled and got on top of her boyfriend. In this kind of situation, being larger than the one who is carrying you can be a bad thing. Sakura's head surpassed Naruto's own.

"This is weird." She admitted. "It's kind of funny though, I remember you carrying me recently when you were taller than me."

Naruto thought back to the memory too. "You mean the time when we killed that Akatsuki jerk, which one was it, Kisame?" Naruto snorted, "Ah, he injured your leg so I had to carry you all the way home." He looked in thought for a moment and said, "You were kind of heavy, what did you eat that day?"

SMACK! She slapped him in the head and muttered idiot under her breath while an embarrassed blush was present on her face. "It was because you were weak! Not because I was fat!"

"Who said you were fat?" Naruto asked, mock confusion on his face, "Even if you were fat, your beauty makes up for it."

SMACK! She hit him on the head again, "We're in public! Don't talk like that! It's embarrassing!"

"It's only true!" Naruto smiled back at her.

Sasuke began to walk ahead of the couple, "God, those two act like they're already married." He looked back over his shoulder and could see Naruto carrying Sakura pass right by him.

"Hey Sasuke! I bet I can beat you in a race to the academy!" He shouted over his shoulder when he was several feet ahead of the Uchiha boy.

Sasuke smirked and ran towards the two, "Heh, you know Naruto, even back then; I was always faster than you!" He easily caught up to them and lowered his speed to a jog. "We'll settle this when you don't have extra weight." He motioned at Sakura.

Before they could continue they ran into a small group of people all surrounded around one person. When the crowd parted for the three of them as they passed, they could hear various things like:

"There she is. she's with the fox brat."

"What's the Uchiha doing around that brat?"

Naruto looked down and tried his best to ignore the people talking, but Sasuke and Sakura both glared at them as they passed by. Once they made it to the middle of the crowd, Sakura paled considerably. "Mom?"

The tall pink haired woman turned her attention to the voice she just heard. She had bright green eyes, similar to Sakura's, and a red dress on. She rushed over to her daughter but stopped halfway when she saw who was carrying her.

"What did I tell you about that boy Sakura?" She shouted immediately. Naruto looked frightened, and Sasuke looked curiously at the mother and daughter.

Sakura looked at her mother's eyes, knowing she was talking about Naruto. "What was it about Naruto you wanted me to remember? I kind of forgot."

The woman was becoming angrier now, "Sakura! Is he why you never came home last night? I was worried sick! Look at you! Whose clothes are you wearing? They aren't," She pointed at Naruto, "His clothes are they!"

Sakura sighed, "No Mother, These are Sasuke's over there." Sasuke gave a little wave, "Naruto is not the reason I didn't come home last night." She didn't know what to say, "I, uh, got lost in the woods, and Naruto was there and led me out, Sasuke found both of us later that night and allowed us to stay at his house considering how late it was."

"Sakura… Is there a reason you're letting him carry you?" Her mother's tone was low, but all knew she was about to explode.

"Oh?" She looked down at Naruto's head and smiled, Naruto shook his head, he didn't want her to get into trouble because of him, but Sakura ignored his protest. "Well, I would let Sasuke do it, but I wouldn't want my boyfriend to get jealous of us."

All was silent.

"WHAT!" A huge scream echoed across the streets and town. Every individual in the village had to stop for a moment the; scream was so loud. Once her mother stopped screaming, she stomped towards Sakura, "You skipped classes because of him, and he must have corrupted you or something! I have given you a lecture every night about him, and you disobey me NOW!"

The three children notice all the adults agreeing with the angry mother. "This isn't good." Naruto whispered to Sakura. She only nodded; maybe blowing her mother's fuse wasn't such a great idea.

Sasuke sighed, "Hang on!"

All the adults stopped, even Sakura's mother. Everyone in the village knew that the last Uchiha was vital for the future, and they needed to respect his wishes. "What is it Uchiha?" A random villager asked.

"Now that I have your attention," He coughed and said, "You people wouldn't really want to hurt my friends here, would you?"

Sakura's mother spoke up, "I'd never hurt my daughter, it's the brat there that should be hurt. Why don't you go away with Sakura and we adults will handle the br- I mean, Naruto." She gave a fake smile.

Sasuke sighed, "Listen woman, first off I don't like your daughter that way, secondly, if you hurt him I will have to fight you all." He lowered himself into the stance Orochimaru taught to him. Though he despised the snake freak, his taijutsu style was quite useful.

Many of the adults sighed about stupid children and walked away. However, a few of them stayed, not really caring much for the so-called, 'last Uchiha'.

"Listen kid." Said a man to his left, "If you interfere with us we're going to have to-." He never finished his sentence, for Sasuke simple punch him straight in the face. The man stumbled back and fell. Sasuke was still a child, but even he knew how to make a strong punch.

Several more adults came running at him, intent on taking him down. A child could not possibly pose any threat to a fully-grown man, right? Sasuke jumped out of the way of the charging adults and kicked one of them in the side. The man fell down, but was not unconscious.

Sasuke smirked, but it was taken off his face as he heard yelling coming from behind him. Right when the man was about to get Sasuke in his grasp and could inflict serious damage on his small frame, Naruto came up and kicked him right in the side. The two boys stood back-to-back facing the seven that still stood to fight them.

"So the fox brat wants to fight now…" One of them said.

"Hah, I wouldn't fight you normally, but if you even dare harm my friend." He closed his eyes and reopened them, "I will hurt you!" His eyes were blood red with a slit down the middle. This made over half the group turn around and run away, only three remained to fight.

_Damn it, I thought for sure those eyes would get them running… _Naruto thought. He had learned in his previous timeline how to do that ability, it was to strike fear into your opponents so they ran away. It did require chakra, but only to activate it, after that it drained little to no chakra depending on the circumstance. Naruto quickly turned it off when he knew the few remaining men would not run.

After a few minutes of stalling one of the men jumped towards the two kids, allowing Sasuke to easily jump to the side dodging the man completely. Naruto too got out of the way and while the man was on the ground recovering from his jump he kicked him in the head, knocking him out cold.

Before the two remaining men could charge or leave, Sakura got behind the two, jumped up to their necks and pressed a pressure point, knocking them out cold. Sakura smiled and put up a peace sign for both of her friends.

"You both okay?" She shouted out to them.

Sasuke looked at his hand from when he punched the man in the face, it was red and a bruise was appearing on his fist. "Could you heal this?" He asked uncertainly.

She looked over the small wound and brought her hands up, a small green light emitted from them. She quickly covered his hands with hers and began to heal them. Within ten seconds she stopped, and fell on her butt. "That's All I can do…" She gasped for breath, "Without losing consciousness."

"You had very little chakra to control at this age." Naruto concluded. He quickly braced himself for a punch, but then remembered the girl was exhausted on the ground.

Sasuke examined his hand, "I can manage with this." It was still a little red, and there was barely any blue in the middle of the hand. "Thank you Sakura."

Sakura looked over to her mother and said, "Sorry, but this is how I like it."

"Just go dear," Her mother said as she looked over all the people on the ground, "We'll talk some other time…" She did not want to argue with her daughter about the matter while she was with her two violent friends, so she allowed herself to leave the site.

Before the three of them left, a group of five ANBU landed down on the road where all the people were. "What happened here?" Asked one behind a dog mask. He looked around until he saw Naruto, his features turned hard and said, "Was it you?" He sounded as though he already made up his mind.

Before he could advance towards Naruto, Sasuke got between them and said, "No, when my friends were passing here, some adults were making it hard for us, so I attacked out of rage." He bowed his head, "I am sorry, it will not happen again. Naruto and Sakura had nothing to do with this."

"Oh really?" The man said, obviously not believing his story. "Well then, you three be safe. We'll clean this up." The three children looked skeptical at the man, but left without any trouble. He turned to his men and said, "Follow them for the day, and make sure they do nothing out of the ordinary."

His four men all nodded and jumped within the trees, and followed the children through the town.

From the Hokage tower, Sarutobi watched the whole thing from his crystal ball. _I hope those children will be all right… _He was about to call off the ANBU following them, but figured it would be a test of sorts. _Let's see how well they can avoid them… or if they even notice them… _

He brought out a pipe and a quill and began to work with the crystal ball to keep tabs on the trio from the future.

(Ninja Academy)

The three entered through the gates into the academy, and marveled at how similar was to how they remembered it. The large building was right in front of them, and the swing Naruto always loved was over to their right how it always was. The building was a dark red color, and all was silent.

"You think they noticed we were all gone?" Sakura asked as she opened the front door to the place. Sasuke and Naruto both followed close behind.

"Nah, they're probably too busy with some lesson right now!" Naruto said with a grin. Sasuke gave him a look and he sighed, slumped and said, "Or they may have noticed a little."

They walked through the halls and finally reached the door to their class. They all could hear their old teacher, Iruka, lecturing the class on some sort of thing. "Well," Sasuke sighed, "Let's get this over with." He opened the door into the class.

When the door creaked open everyone stopped sleeping or paying attention and looked over. Naruto walked forward and cleared his throat, "Hello everyone! How are all of you?" When he receive silence he said, "Awesome! Eh, sorry we're kind of late Iruka, you see Sasuke, Sakura-chan and I were all sort of caught up in something-"

"Naruto…" Iruka growled, "You're almost two hours late for class! What did it do to involve both Sakura and Sasuke?"

Naruto tried to think of something quickly, "Well you see… Sasuke was being an asshole again, so I challenged him to a fight! Sakura-chan over there was um, around… and cheered for Sasuke to beat me," He said that with a bitter tone, "But um, some people came by and…"

"And tried to interfere with our fight." Sasuke came in for the rescue, "That didn't sit well with me, so I simply had to kick their asses." He thought harder, _That all couldn't equal two hours… _"Then some ANBU came while I was fight…"

Sakura came in, "Then They took Naruto and Sasuke to the Hokage," _Ok, that covered them, now what about me… _"And I followed to make sure they both were all right." She finished.

"The Hokage released us late, and told us to hurry here and now here we are! Let's continue on with class shall we!" Naruto shouted and took his usual seat in the back of the class. Sakura looked over at him, seeing no free seats she sat next to her long-time rival, Ino. Sasuke walked down the row, trying to act like how he did then, with his hands in his pockets and no emotion on his face. He went to the front of the class and sat, paying all his attention on Iruka.

"Ok then…" Iruka said, not sure what to make of the tale.

After several moments of silence, he continued on with the lecture.

The classroom was a rectangular shape. There were five rows of places for the students to sit. Each row lifted up a foot from the front one so students didn't have to move their heads around to see the front of the class. There were stairs cut straight through all the desks so there were two sides to the whole class. In front was Iruka behind a stand with many papers on it, and behind him was a huge chalkboard that went over the whole wall behind the intellectual man.

Sasuke was in the front row to the left, Sakura sat in the fourth row to the right, and Naruto in the fifth to the left of the stairs. All of them tried their best not to look at each other to raise suspicion.

Naruto in the back could only pay attention for a few minutes before his head hit his desk; he began to daydream of what he could do to make this timeline work. Meanwhile, Sakura listened to every word that left Iruka's mouth. Even though she has heard all this before, she couldn't help but get angry over it, _what? He's just explaining what could happen on the field! They need a demonstration so they won't die the first time they fight an enemy ninja! _

Sasuke felt the need to do what Naruto just did, but couldn't do it; he didn't want to lose his reputation he built up too quickly. When the class knew he hung out with Naruto, he knew that he would become much less popular than he was. _All in due time… _He thought, with a smile on his face, which disturbed the hell out of Iruka.

_When has Sasuke ever smiled? _He shook his head out of his daze. "Ok class, its lunch time, have fun and don't hurt yourselves!" All the children quickly poured out of the academy to head outside, the sun was now overhead, and it was very bright outside.

When the students exited the academy, Naruto went for his favorite spot. It was almost automatic for him. His feet simply led the way to his favorite seat and he simply sat himself down. He sighed and looked at all the children playing around him.

When Sasuke came out he saw Naruto by himself and looked around. He never sat with anyone else, so he figured he could go be with his best friend. "Hey Naruto." He said as he came within speaking distance. "How're you doing?"

"I'm wondering if eating dirt would harm me," He said honestly as drool escaped his mouth, "I wish we had Ramen around here."

Over on the other sit, Ino and Sakura sat together. Ino offered Sakura some of her lunch, but Sakura simply shook her hands in front of her, "No thanks, I have already eaten this morning."

Ino accepted the answer and sat down against a tree. Sakura sat down to her left. "So who won?" She asked out of the blue.

"What?" Sakura asked confused.

"The fight, who won it?" Ino asked again, more specific this time.

Sakura nodded, "Ah, well you see, the ANBU came before it finished, and-"

"Who would have won?"

"Well," Sakura thought for a moment, she liked Naruto, but Sasuke was also her friend… "It would have been a tie, both are really good."

Ino nodded, "Well, I bet Sasuke-kun would have won if I was there, you're way too uninspiring." Ino said, stars appearing in her eyes.

"What?" Sakura got an evil look in her eye, "It's obvious that Naruto would have won if it weren't for the ANBU!"

Ino looked over at the girl in shock, "What? You're saying Naruto, the dead last is better than Sasuke-kun? What is wrong with you? Do you have a fever?"

Sakura snorted, "As if! Sasuke can't beat Naruto even if Naruto had his hands tied behind his back!" The challenge was offered, and neither child would back down.

Ino and Sakura both walked over to the two boys who were simply chatting and each grabbed one of them, Ino dragged Sasuke one way, and Sakura dragged Naruto the other.

Once they were far enough distance apart Sakura turned to Naruto and said, "Ok, Naruto! Tie your hands behind your back with this." She grabbed the blue ribbon in her hair and handed it to Naruto, "And I want you to kick Sasuke's ass."

"Wha- What?" Naruto asked confusion evident in his voice. "You want me to hurt Sasuke? What for?"

Sakura gave him a kiss on the lips and said, "Do it for me, okay?"

Naruto, too lost in thought, simply nodded, a goofy grin pasted on his face.

Over to Sasuke and Ino, "Sasuke-kun! I want you to show everyone here that you can kick Naruto's ass!"

"What? Why?" He sighed, "Ino just let me go over and-" He glanced over at Naruto and saw Sakura tying his hands behind his back, "Um, what's going on?" He asked, slightly confused.

"Sakura is saying that Naruto could beat you with his hands behind his back, I know it's not true, so I want you to go out there and kick his ass for me!" Ino explained.

Sasuke sighed again; _we have MUCH more important things to do than this… _He thought as a frown came to his face, _like trying to stop Orochimaru and Akatsuki, this is NOT on top of the important thing to do list. _He agreed to the terms however, when Naruto with a grin on his face walked hazily over to him.

Naruto and Sasuke walked out to the middle of the academy fields, looking each other in the eye. Naruto got rid of his goofy grin and looked on with seriousness in his eyes. Sasuke was the first one to speak. "Naruto, why the hell did you agree to this?"

"Heh, I have my reasons," He replied and he turned serious, "Sasuke, since I am so nice, I'll allow you to make the first move."

Sasuke nodded and went through some hand seals, which Naruto recognized immediately. Sasuke brought his hands to his mouth and blew out a huge fireball at Naruto. Both were trained to not speak the moves they were to do so their opponent would be surprised instead of finding a quickly counter for the element it was they were going against. Naruto quickly rolled over to the side and avoided the huge fireball.

_Goukakyuu no Jutsu… _Naruto thought as he watched Sasuke remove his hand from his mouth, signaling the end of the attack. He quickly ran towards Sasuke and tried to kick up in the head, but Sasuke quickly grabbed his foot and threw him quite a distance away.

By now the fight had drawn the attention of all the students they all circled around the two fighting, and Sakura and Ino watched with confidence.

Suddenly, a younger Kiba yelled from the crowd, "Go Naruto! Kick that guy's ass! He deserves to be knocked down a peg."

Sasuke glared at the guy and Naruto smiled, _Hm, I am not as popular as I thought I was… _Sasuke sighed. He looked towards Naruto again. He focused chakra into his eyes; _I need to get Sharingan so I can end this quickly… _He quickly retracted all the chakra from his eyes when a burning sensation came up. "Damn!" He said out loud.

"What's wrong Sasuke-chan?" Naruto joked as he advanced forward to keep up attacking. Sasuke simply side stepped his kick and said, "At this rate I won't even need Sharingan!" As he said that hands emerged from the ground and grabbed Sasuke's feet. "What the hell!" He shouted as he tried to get away from the grip, but it was too strong.

Naruto grinned, "The rules were I had my hands tied behind my back, it never stated that I couldn't use any jutsu's!" The clone quickly pulled Sasuke down, to his head. "Got you!" Naruto got face to face with him and suddenly Sasuke exploded into a ton of smoke.

"Up here!" Sasuke shouted. Naruto looked up in the air to see Sasuke coming down with his fist held back. Naruto quickly fell to the ground and rolled around Sasuke's blow and attempted to kick him in the face, but Sasuke switched positions and grabbed his foot. Both then jump away from each other.

"What going on here!" Iruka shouted as he made his way through all his students. What he was hearing was making him worried:

"You can do it Sasuke-kun!"

"When did Naruto get so good?"

"Are those clones solid?"

"Naruto! Don't lose to him!"

Of course, since he was taller than all of the children, he saw what was going on almost instantly. _Naruto! Sasuke! _He was about to call it off until Sakura ran in front of where the most students were, and proceeded to speak.

Sakura had seen Iruka right away when he came out, so she quickly did the first thing that came to her head. She ran to where a majority of the people were standing and began to lecture them, "Ok students! This is what fights will be like! Of course, you won't have your hands tied to your back."

"Notice how they both attack each other with the intent to kill? That is what a real fight is all about. The opponent will not go easy on you. He or She will try to exploit your weaknesses and use them against you. They won't allow you to get up once you fall, or pick up weapons you drop. They'll usually try to use their stronger techniques to finish you off quickly, or if they're smart they'll avoid all your techniques and wait until you're low on chakra and begin to attack you."

She stopped and gathered her breath. "Notice here, how…" She observed the fight a little. Several clones of Naruto now pinned down Sasuke, as Naruto gathered sloppily chakra at his feet and tried to kick Sasuke hard in the gut. Luckily Sasuke managed to kick the head of one of Naruto's clones and got out of the way of his attack.

"Um, Ok, see how Naruto sloppily gathered his chakra for that attack? That is why you want to perfect your chakra control as soon as you possibly can."

Naruto looked hurtfully at Sakura. "Hey! I'm not that bad!"

"Hey Naruto! Pay Attention!" Sasuke shouted as he charged up another fire attack, this time it sent multiple little fireballs at Naruto who quickly made a shield of clones to block it all.

"That's cheap Sasuke!" He shouted angrily.

"Hey Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, "Be sure to tell them not to be distracted in a fight ever too, like the idiot here." Sasuke pointed at Naruto.

Sakura sighed, "That too…"

After a couple of minutes, both boys were gasping for breath, _Damn it! _Naruto thought, _if I could grasp control of all this damn chakra in me I could beat him, or use my hands for that matter… _Sasuke thought something similar to Naruto.

Both looked each other in the eye and ran towards one another. Sasuke's fist landed right in between Naruto's eyes, as Naruto's landed in the same spot on Sasuke's face. Both stood in that position for a moment, with each other's fist in each other's face. Finally both fell backwards.

Everyone looked on in Silence.

Nothing made any noise.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Kiba shouted throwing his fist into the air. Many other children did the same to show their agreement to the matter. Ino looked devastated. Sasuke was tied with Naruto, the so called, 'Dead last'.

Iruka ran over to the children and checked their heartbeat, when it was at normal speed he sighed out some relief. "They're not that badly hurt." He said as Sakura came walking over.

"That's good." She sighed, she then looked over at the cheering class and yelled "Listen up!" When no one heeded her words she brought her fist in the air and slammed it against the ground. A crater appeared below that was several feet wide. Needless to say, it had the desired effect.

"Now, both of them knocked each other out. That usually means the match is over and an honorable individual would normally leave his opponent to fight another day. Unfortunately, there are those out there that would use this to their advantage if they recover first, and will probably kill you."

Sakura turned to both of them and asked to the class, "Now, do you all know what a job of a medic-nin is?" Most of the students nodded. "Good. If there is one nearby, their immediate job is to help heal their teammate back to health, no matter what." She raised her hands above Naruto's head, and a green glow came up, "Doing this requires a lot of control…" She quickly rubbed Naruto's forehead, knowing she was going to run out of chakra quickly. She then switched to Sasuke and did the same, "That is what they do…" She said. Using these abilities at her young age was definitely taking its toll.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stirred awake and looked at each other. "Who won?" They asked each other. They then glared at each other.

"You mean it was a draw?" Naruto asked, continuing to glare at his long time rival.

"I guess it was," Sasuke sighed, "Damn, all that training actually DID improve you." He let up the glare and smiled.

Naruto snorted, "That's what it's for, and you can never become strong if you just rely on your family name." He got up and gave Sasuke his hand, who accepted it and got up himself.

Naruto noticed Sakura on the ground and asked, "Eh, Sakura you alright?" He offered her his hand up, and she grabbed hold on it and got up, once she was standing she leaned on Naruto, who was leaning on Sasuke. Sasuke had to hold both of them up now…

"And," Sakura began, "That's all you need to learn today!"

Iruka called in the class, and watched as the three leaning one another came in with each other. Sakura gave Naruto a quick kiss again. _Since when have they been friends? _Iruka thought to himself, _Sakura has always hated Naruto, and Sasuke has always been the silent type. I wonder if this is worth reporting to the Hokage… Hell, Naruto even knew Kage Bunshin technique, and Sakura medical jutsu!_

Up in the trees surrounding the academy, the ANBU who were spying on the children were surprised by their abilities and powers. "These aren't normal children."

After saying that the four following them jumped away to report to their team leader.

Inside the Academy, The three friends all sat by each other. All the students sat in their normal seats, Though Sakura and Sasuke to sit by their friend kicked Shikamaru and Choji off the top row.

Iruka tried to start a lecture, but couldn't get his mind off the students in the top row, the three of them specifically. So finally he just decided, "Ok class, class is over early, Sakura had a good enough lesson outside." All the students quickly cleared their way out of the school and left.

Only a few were left. Hinata in the front row, slowly walking to the top, Shikamaru and Choji near the bottom, and finally the three friends hanging out at the top.

"You're not that bad of a teacher Sakura." Naruto said as he got up and stretched. Sasuke and Sakura followed suit.

"Yeah, while you were gone for that two and half year training trip I had to teach a few classes." She stated, "The brats were annoying as hell." She muttered the more she thought of it.

Sasuke walked out the door saying, "I'll be outside waiting for you two." Sakura and Naruto both nodded and were about to follow him, but a shaky voice stopped them in their tracks.

"N- Naruto-kun…" She said. Instantly Sakura glared at her and held onto Naruto's shoulder firmly, and Naruto turned to greet her.

"Hello Hinata." Naruto greeted. He took notice of her blush and shaky figure. Her fingers pressed together. _Hm… why is she like that, "_Do you have a fever?" He asked, concern filling his voice.

She shook her head, "No Na- Naruto-kun." She answered.

It was silent for a moment before Sakura broke it asking, "Do you need something?"

Hinata seem to snap out of her silence and said, "Ah! Naruto-kun, I thought y- you, fought uh… rea- really well."

"Um, thanks Hinata." Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

Sakura sighed, Naruto, even after so many years he was as dense as before, "Hinata, thank you for complimenting Naruto, but we have to leave now, Sasuke is waiting for us." She wrapped both her arms around Naruto and leaned her head against his shoulder and walked out, praying Hinata got the silent message she sent about Naruto.

Needless to say, she did when she looked away and tears almost came out of his eyes. "Hinata…" She looked up and saw Shikamaru standing there with Choji behind him, "Are you okay?"

She tried to say no, but all she could do was shake her head and began to cry, "No…" She whispered quietly.

"Geez!" Shikamaru exclaim in an unexcited way. "Don't cry." _This is why women are so troublesome, some are evil and some are too nice. There's never one right in the middle… _"It will be alright?" He said uncertainly.

Hinata flew into his chest and cried some more and all Shikamaru could do was pat her back, telling her it was all right. This was how he always saw his dad do it when his mother was really upset anyway.

(Outside the Academy)

The three walked out of the academy from the exhausting first day. They walked down a dirt path with Naruto the leader for the time being. "Hey guys, lets head to my house, I want to get a few things that I think I still have there."

They walked on in silence for a little bit before Naruto broke it once again, "Being this young sucks, we don't have any control, and we're as weak as hell!" Naruto exclaimed, "That fight would have been much more interesting if we weren't holding back our more powerful attacks!"

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "We can't even do our more powerful attacks, hell, I couldn't even activate Sharingan, I got this damn stinging sensation in my eyes."

Sakura nodded, "It makes sense, at this age we barely had enough chakra…" She stopped and looked at Naruto, "Most of us barely had enough chakra to do on B-ranked technique. I'm surprised your fight went on for so long."

That made them silent for a long time until Naruto broke the silence once more, "Will it really take us only a year to regain all that we lost? I mean, the Old man wants us to be ANBU, that's huge!" nervousness was dripping off his voice.

_What the hell? Naruto is nervous about something? He can be nervous? Guess you learn something new every day, _Sasuke thought, he then spoke, "If not, we'll just take another year. Orochimaru is not planning to attack for a little more than three years, and Akatsuki is not going to be collecting the demons for another five years or so."

"Yeah." Sakura agreed, "We definitely have enough time to do this."

They stopped talking when they saw a group of people walking towards them. All of them were laughing and snickering until they saw the three coming towards them. They proceeded down the road until they got in ear shot of Naruto and said, "Hey brat, I hope you like what we did with your home, it fits you much better now!" He laughed, and the group quickly ran ahead of the children, knowing what they could possibly do to them.

Naruto offered them one word of satisfaction, "Aw crap."

He quickly ran ahead, leaving his two friends behind. After a few seconds letting the words register in their minds they quickly ran too, trying to catch up to the blonde.

When they got to the apartment complex where Naruto lived they looked around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Though, saying the apartment building was wondrous was similar to calling an adorable puppy horribly ugly. It was a very rectangular building, made out of bricks. There were stairs leading to the uppers levels where they knew Naruto lived.

They slowly walked up the stairs, every step felt like they'd fall through to the bottom. Once they reached the second floor the both of them walked until they reached Naruto's door, which was on the floor.

"Naruto?" Sakura called in. Getting no answer she walked pass the door and entered.

Sasuke noticed both the windows next to Naruto's door were broken and walked in to find what broke through them. He found two bricks; one that hit each window, each had a message for the 'demon' child. Sasuke read them both and grew angered. He gathered chakra into his hand and managed to crush the two bricks with ease.

Sakura wandered into the kitchen where all of Naruto's cooking utensils were spread all about in a very messy way. On the walls of the house were graffiti that people wrote about Naruto. Sakura didn't read it, knowing it would make her cry and feel angry, which she already felt enough of. Sasuke and Sakura met again in the small living room that was there when you first enter the house.

They walked down the only hall in the house. On the left was the bathroom, and on the right was Naruto's bedroom, or rather, what was remaining of it.

"Did they have to destroy everything?" Naruto questioned when the two entered the room.

Sakura was the first to speak, "Naruto, I'm so sorry…"

"It's okay Sakura-chan," He grinned over at her, though it was obviously fake, "I can fix most of it, and wipe the writing off the walls.\-"

"Hell no." Sasuke spoke up, "This place is trashed, and there is no way you're going to keep on living here."

Sakura agreed, "Yeah Naruto! You have to report this to the Hokage! I mean they completely destroyed your home!"

Naruto sighed; the fake grin came off easily, "No, I can't do that. That would mean a victory for the people who did this. Besides, half the ninja population of this village isn't very fond of me right now either."

"Well, you can come live with me now." Sasuke said, "It gets lonely at my place a lot anyway from what I remember."

"And I'll stay too, I don't really want to be with my mom right now," Sakura added, "Come on Naruto." She held her hand out to him, "It's not just you this time around, we're all in this together."

Naruto looked up, tears evident in his eyes, "Yeah," He accepted her hand and got up, quickly he gave her a tight hug and said, "Yes… us three, we'll make everything much better this time around."

The three walked out of the place, none ever intending to go back.

---END---

Has anyone ever thought of Shikamaru/Hinata? I have never, when I wrote that scene I decided to add that and went, hmm...

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. See you next chapter.

Edit: 03/24/10 – And the case of there being far too many ellipses continues! If you're all wondering, right now I am just going through and editing it, adding a few lines where I felt there needed to be a little more explanation, getting rid of all the times Sakura says Naruto with kun at the end, and getting rid of the villagers calling Naruto a demon, and instead have them calling him a brat, or a fox brat. To be honest, big changes in my revision and editing process will not occur until chapter 5 or 6.

Until them, have a good day!


	3. Shopping is not a Ninja's job

REWRITTEN

03/24/10 – And here's revised chapter three for you all!

DISCLAIMER - I does not own thy rights of the Naruto.

"Speaking"

_Thinking_

Ryou is the money of the Naruto World. I don't know how much Ryou is a dollar, but for this story it is pretty much going to be the equivalent of yen, basically 100 Ryou = 1 dollar.

Please enjoy!

_---_

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, allowing them to get used to the dim light that was just entering the room. He was going to stretch but felt some weight on his chest. He looked down and saw Sakura resting her head on his chest, her hair all scattered around everywhere. He sighed and watched her breath for a moment.

The two were on the couch from the last day in the Uchiha Mansion that they all decided to live in together. Naruto was near falling off the edge while Sakura had the inside of the couch to herself, and was having her head rest on his chest. Sasuke was again sleeping in the chair across from them, saying something the other night about how he had nightmares whenever he slept in his own room.

Naruto moved his hand from its position hanging off the couch to move the hair out of the girls face. He smiled when she sighed softly. Of course, he wanted to do more like give her a morning kiss or something, but he still remembered her lecture from last night.

_Dear god, even at this age she can yell so loud… _He thought.

She was claiming how he can't do certain things with her at this age because they were so young and hadn't even hit puberty yet, and all kinds of other things. All he really got out of it was all he could do with her right now was flirting and hugs, and kisses were usually a bonus if he was really good he decided.

He again looked down at her when she began to stir herself. "Morning." Naruto offered to start the conversation.

"Yeah," She muttered, not wanting to wake up. "What time is it?"

Naruto looked at the clock they had installed last night in the room so they wouldn't be left in the blue of what time it was.

"Almost seven." He answered looking back at her.

"Ah," She said. "Wake me up in an hour." She promptly went back to sleep.

_This could be bad, _Naruto thought, slightly worried about the situation. He wasn't tired anymore, he wanted to get up and go practice some things, but on the other hand, this was his long time love laying on him! She didn't even object to it! The only downside to that was that they were too young to do anything very serious, _This is quite the dilemma… _He sighed and continued to lie there.

_What should I do?_ His eyes wandered the corners of the room and such; nothing interesting was going on around there. _Hm…_

"Comfortable?" Sasuke asked from his position on the chair. A smirk was evident on his face.

Naruto looked over and smiled, "Jealous?"

"Nah." Sasuke said, "She deserves you, especially after all you two have been through together."

"Even though it was to bring you back, the so called 'love of her life'." Naruto smiled at the irony. "This is awesome," He sighed happily. "I have you two to help me get through all the challenges ahead, and we have a chance to save all those that died."

Sarutobi instantly flashed in their minds, "We need to save the Old man this time." Naruto said quietly, "He's like a grandfather figure to me, the first person to ever show me any kindness or respect."

Sasuke nodded in understanding, "He was a great man," He thought for a moment then corrected himself, "He 'is' a good man."

"But," Naruto started, "That brings up one problem, what will be the point of getting Tsunade to come to the village?"

"If Itachi decides to have an early visit again," Sasuke mumbled, "Then we'll need her if he used his Sharingan on someone."

Naruto smirked slightly, "So, we should let someone go through all that torture to get us the mission to bring her?" He asked, "Oh yeah, I bet the old man would love that plan a whole lot."

"I also want to try to save him."

Naruto paused, "Yeah, he ended up being a good guy the entire time, right?"

"Yes, he was ordered to wipe out the whole village by the higher ups."

"How could we help him?" Naruto shook his head, "That also brings up the point about Danzo as well. When Sakura and I went to try and save you, he was trying to gain control of the village from Tsunade, who went into a coma after a huge assault by Akatsuki."

"I don't know, but the sooner he is out, the better. Then we can do something about Itachi."

"I don't know." Naruto sighed, "Look, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. There is no need to concern Sarutobi about a betrayal that isn't going to happen for a decade, however, we'll do anything in our power to prevent him from getting to power." He looked thoughtful, "Let's get back to Tsunade for now, how do we convince her to come to the village?"

"Ok then," Sasuke sighed, "Why don't we simply ask the Hokage to request her to come here then? He's her sensei after all; I doubt she'd instantly decline it."

Naruto nodded. "Now, what will we do when Akatsuki begins acting up again? Gaara was targeted right away," Naruto lost his track of words, "Damn it, we have to make sure Gaara turns good again. That could be a pain… Shukaku underestimated me greatly last time and that's why I was able to beat him, and this time if he sees an ANBU coming at him with Kyuubi's chakra within him, he isn't going to go easy again."

"Well," Sasuke sighed, "Who says you need to look like an ANBU? Just be disguised as a Genin and take him on again."

"True, but who will save the Old man?"

"I'll let you go after Shukaku; I'll attempt to save the Hokage this time around."

"And I'll go with Naruto, Shukaku isn't an idiot, he'll feel all the chakra within Naruto and go all out quickly within the fight." Sakura said as she made her way into the conversation. "Orochimaru was once your sensei Sasuke, so that means you know all his abilities, furthermore, he'll be weaker because he hadn't trained as much as us."

Sasuke nodded at Sakura; temporarily derailing from the conversation he asked, "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I have a comfortable pillow." She said squeezing Naruto. Afterwards she sat up, allowing Naruto to. She then leaned against him; both still had the blanket around them.

"Anyways, back on topic." Sasuke began, "This brings up another problem, earlier than the Shukaku issue; Orochimaru is going to enter the Chuunin exams."

Sakura nodded, "Yes, but we won't be in that, we'll have to tell the Hokage to allow us to supervise most of it."

"You really think he'd let us?" Naruto asked, "I mean, that is a huge responsibility."

"He'll let us." Sasuke answered, "He knows that we know everything that is going to pass in the next decade or so, just as long as we try to keep the original timeline somewhat like this one, he'll put all his trust into us three about some of the larger decisions he's going to make."

"We'll obviously have to have a sort of alternate lifestyle from our ANBU status; we don't want the world to know we're one. So I suggest that we participate as Chuunin supervisors for the exam, we'll be able to make fun of all our friends who enter it." Sakura thought with a gleam in her eye, "And it will allow us to track Kabuto."

No one spoke for a minute at the mention of that name. Finally Naruto snarled, "I say we just break him apart while he's in the forest of death and blame the death on Orochimaru."

"I like that plan." Sasuke said, not missing a beat.

"No." Sakura sighed, "Even though he's our enemy, Orochimaru is smart enough to know that if he dies then someone knows he is around and will possibly retreat from the exams." She turned to Naruto and said, "But I liked that plan as well."

"We got the Chuunin exams planned out and the Tsunade search, but what will we do about the wave country?" Sasuke asked, "We can't just leave all that to Gatou to rule and have some unlucky Genin team go into that mission."

Sakura thought for a moment and said, "We could always further our disguise as Chuunin and accept the mission. So we have a record of some C and B rank missions in our book."

"True," Naruto muttered, "Ok, what are we going to do about the Sound five?" Naruto asked questionably, "You know, the four that made you betrayed Konoha and go join that damn Sound Village. Then the fifth one showed up and allowed you to run far away to the Valley."

"I don't know, I don't plan on going to join that damn village again, whenever they appear I guess we'll just have to kill them as soon as we can."

Sakura spoke up saying, "If they come thinking you'll betray us and join you, us three will take them out. They're strong, but we could beat them if it was us three against them four, and plus they'll be in the village, so we would have help quickly."

Naruto nodded. "Now, back to Akatsuki and Gaara," Naruto sighed, "They will be taking the tailed demons from one to nine. I remember they got Gaara easily because he was not expecting the attack, and they got all the demons besides mine." Naruto was silent for a moment. "We'll have to accept any assassination mission that even remotely deals them with." Naruto decided, "We need to kill them as early as possible so they aren't as strong as they will be later in time."

"Alright, we have a set plan." Sakura said getting up and stretching. "I am going to take a shower." She simply stated and went away.

She wore pink Pajamas, a shirt and pants. Naruto and Sasuke both wore blue ones. "So," Naruto said, the mood instantly lightening from what it once was. "Why was it that you had pink PJs?"

"Well…" Sasuke sighed, "Itachi told me this when he was still here," He stopped for a moment, "He said once when I asked the same question that mom and dad were expecting me to be a girl. He told me that they bought clothes for me so I would not have to get any new ones until I was like ten years old," He sighed, "Itachi says that they were devastated when they found out I was a boy."

Naruto was quiet for a moment, and then he burst out laughing, "Oh my god! That is hilarious!" He continued laughing and fell to the floor. "Ha! Man! That is so funny!"

Sasuke watched with little amusement in his eyes.

"Ahhh!" Naruto sighed happily. "Ok, I'm going to take a shower too."

"Naruto…" Sasuke started, "That bathroom is the only one around here."

Naruto looked back with a peace sign, "Wish me luck!"

"Really Naruto?" Was all Sasuke could say before he placed his head in his hand and sighed. A moment later he heard a shout of 'IDIOT' and the door open and a huge 'SLAM' sound as Naruto made contact with the wall.

"Ouch…" Naruto muttered as Sasuke walked up to him.

"Heh, Might want to wait another nine years for that trick." Sasuke sighed.

Naruto whined, "But that is so far away!"

"Pervert." Was all Sasuke could say as he made his way to the Kitchen. Naruto followed shortly after claiming he was not a pervert.

(Uchiha Kitchen)

The kitchen is Sasuke's house was, for lack of better words, big. It had several tables in there, and several stoves and other machines. The fridge, as big as it was, was almost always empty however. This was all Naruto could look at when he entered.

"Sasuke," He began. "Your Kitchen is the size of the fire country; it could hold millions in it, yet you don't have any food in here?"

Sasuke walked over and said, "I am the only one living here now, and this is food." He pulled out some milk and leftover oatmeal from the day before.

Naruto stared at it for a moment before saying, "As I was saying, do you have REAL food?"

"Suit yourself." Sasuke muttered as he walked over to a nearby table of the many and began to eat it. Naruto sighed and walked over with a slump in his walk and sat next to Sasuke. He accepted the plate and chopsticks Sasuke offered him and grabbed the bowl and watched the oatmeal slide around in the bowl as he moved it back and forth.

He sat it back down and looked at it closely for several minutes. "I see nothing bad." He picked up the chopsticks and slowly brought it forward to his mouth and swallowed slowly. Sasuke watched in slight amusement.

"Well?" He asked as he took another bite of the food.

"Gah!" Naruto screamed out and fell on the floor. "This- this tastes just like," Sasuke leaned closer and listened, "Tastes just like, oatmeal…" Naruto then stopped moving and stayed motionless on the ground.

Sasuke watched, and after ten seconds he asked, "eh, Naruto, are you all right?"

Naruto didn't even twitch at his words. "Naruto!" He said a little louder.

As Sasuke began to get a somewhat worried feeling in him, Sakura entered the room and looked around and saw Sasuke sitting and Naruto on the floor. "Hello!" She called and rushed over.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto instantly got up, ending his act and ran over to her. "Please forgive me!" He got on his knees and bowed down several times. "I was sleepy and I wasn't in full control of myself and, and um, I don't know why I did it!"

Sasuke watched the change from a dead Naruto to a very lively Naruto and sighed, _it is going to be very interesting living with these two._

"As long as you don't do it again Naruto." Sakura sighed, "I'll forgive you." Naruto cheered and gave her a hug.

The both of them came over and sat with Sasuke. "How are you Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Fine." He answered, not saying anything else.

"Well…" Sakura said, "We're supposed to be getting ready to head to the academy, yet you two haven't changed out of your pajamas yet." Sakura wore the same clothes she had on the day before, the blue ribbon holding her hair together again.

Both boys turned their head and said, "Screw the Academy."

Sakura sighed, "Ok then, what do you two want to do today?"

"Train." Sasuke responded.

Naruto took a little bit of time to respond and said, "Shop for some new clothes, no offense Sasuke, your clothes are comfortable, but I prefer to have clothes that I know you haven't worn."

"Good idea." Sakura added, "We all should go get some new clothes!" A thpigjt suddenly crossed her mind, "Naruto!" She turned to him, "If you buy that damn orange jumpsuit again I am going to have to hurt you."

Naruto backed off and said, "Hey! Who said I was planning on that?"

"You seem to be attracted to idiotic clothing." Sasuke said, "We'll help you choose."

"Heh, Yeah…" Naruto said looking away from both of his friends' eyes, his grin turned to a frown. "Well, when will we head out?" He quickly covered the frown up with another grin.

Both Sakura and Sasuke saw the quick change in expressions, but kept it mostly to themselves. "We'll head out now." Sasuke said, "Let's go change Naruto."

Naruto nodded and both left the Kitchen leaving Sakura there.

_I have a feeling something bad is going to happen… _She thought to herself, a frown coming onto her face.

"Ready to go Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

She got up, not allowing her mind to wander onto other things, and said, "Yeah, let's go!"

(Konoha Village, shopping district)

The three children were wandering through the shopping district of Konoha. It was a very nice part of the city, with stalls lining the street, and at every corner there seem to be some kind of food cart. Above them were wires where lights hung off of, they'd be turned on at night. The Sun was overhead of them, and all the buildings had their items all on display trying to get people to get into their shops.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were all getting the normal glares, but from the younger people they got looks of confusion. Three children should either be in school or the ninja academy at this time, depending on their profession.

Naruto led the group a huge grin on his face, "Man! It feels so good to be out here instead of at that boring place!"

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed. He looked over and spotted a nice ninja clothing shop. "How about we head in there?" He asked.

"No, I hear it has horrible stuff." Naruto stated.

Sakura looked skeptical and said, "Stuff?"

"Yeah you know… things, materials all that kind of stuff." He said.

Sasuke and Sakura eyed each other. "Ok," Sakura muttered, "How about that one?" She pointed to a pretty fancy one, and Sasuke gulped. He had the most money and had agreed to pay for all of them, but even that would put a dent in what he brought.

"Nah!" Naruto said. Sasuke mentally sighed and thanked Naruto, "Too fancy."

"But don't we want fancy equipment?" Sakura questioned.

Naruto shook his head, "No. We want equipment that won't burden us, not something with so many little gadgets on it that my head would explode if I were to even try to figure out the thing."

"Ok," Sakura sighed. "Where do you suggest we go? You are after, the one that suggested we do this in the FIRST PLACE!"

Naruto thought for a moment looking at each shop, "Well, I hear imported clothing is really good…"

"NARUTO!" Sakura smacked him across the head, "Why don't you want to go in any of these shops?"

He sighed and looked down, "Well," He looked uncertain of whether to tell them or not, "You see," He thought harder; "In the other timeline both of the shops you two pointed out kicked me out when I wanted to get something. I have no reason to think they won't do the same thing in this one." He looked down; the grin that was once on his face was a deep frown.

"Ah," Sasuke said, "I figured it was that."

"We'll force them to allow you to buy stuff from them!" Sakura said slamming her fist into her other hand.

Naruto shook his head, "I don't think that would work, When the Hokage brought me to these shops, they sold me low quality items at a very high price. It wasn't all that worth it. That is how I got the orange jumpsuit, It's not because I wanted it or liked the color orange. Even then I wasn't that big of an idiot."

"Well then." Sasuke muttered thinking, "This is quite the problem."

Sakura just smiled, "Not at all."

She grabbed both boys by the hands and dragged them into the fancy shop she pointed out. Sasuke nearly felt tears come out of his eyes thinking of how much this would cost him, and Naruto was squirming, not wanting to get his friends in trouble.

She entered the shop and a bell rang throughout the shop. To the left of her was a counter, and all in front of her was endless racks of ninja clothing. On the walls, there were all kinds of weapons being displayed. It was an ideal shop for any ninja.

"Hello!" Greeted the man as he walked over to them. He had a kind tone in his voice and he came out with a smile on his face for his customer. He was obviously a retired ninja, he had the stance of one, and each step was one that could counter anything thrown at him.

"Hi!" Sakura greeted. She was finally managed to pull both boys in who fell on the floor with a thud. Sasuke landed on top of Naruto, making him groan in pain.

"Did you have to be so forceful?" Naruto whined as Sasuke got off.

"Well if you'd of just walked instead of having me drag you then no." She replied.

The man looked at Naruto for merely a second, and then the kindness of his figure turned to one of hate. "What are you doing in here?"

Naruto had no idea what to say, but luckily for him Sakura came to the rescue, "He's here to buy some ninja gear, is that a problem?"

"For you and the Uchiha, I have no problems," He eyed Naruto, "For that brat though, I wouldn't allow him to leave here with anything."

"How could you say that about one of the future ninja of this village?" Sakura demanded angrily, "He's going to assist in village affairs, and you just shove him off?"

The man looked down at the girl, "Listen, girl, I don't let blood thirsty creatures into my shop and give him weapons to kill others with." He obviously wanted to intimate her, as was obvious with his glare, but she glared right back at him, although it wasn't as threatening as it was cute.

"Listen, man," She said mocking him, "This 'blood thirsty creature' is one day going to save your ass, so I suggest you allow him to get whatever he needs here so he can actually be effective in helping you!"

The Man got annoyed at this point and snarled, "Shouldn't you be in school or something! Didn't your mother ever teach you to respect your elders?"

"You got that elders part right." She huffed and crossed her hands. "Come on, all we want to do is buy some new equipment and we'll NEVER bother you again."

The man seemed to consider it for a moment and sighed, "Fine. Go buy whatever you want, damn demon lover." He sneered at her.

"You got that right!" She hugged Naruto tightly and the man looked on in anger.

The three of them wandered towards the back of the shop. "Ok, we're all pretty small, so we need to go somewhere over here." Sakura wandered through the places, guiding both boys, who were unfamiliar in the arts of shopping. "Here we are." She found a spot with plenty of clothing that could fit them all.

"We need something that we can be stealthy with and will last us a couple of years," Sasuke muttered searching through it all, "And no jumpsuits!" He said mostly towards Naruto.

Naruto just sent him a glare and continue searching. "Here's something." He said as he pull out a shirt along with some pants, both were black, and had slots around the wrist and feet where weights could be put in. There was a belt around it that could hold all kinds of equipment. "This looks pretty cool, I could probably make this last a couple years."

Sasuke nodded, "Hm, I didn't think you had a good fashion sense Naruto."

"It looks great Naruto!" Sakura said as she took a second to admire it and then go searching for her own clothing. Sasuke wasted no time and chose an outfit pretty similar to Naruto's.

Sakura sighed, "Weights are so overrated." She muttered as both Naruto and Sasuke began to argue who would be able to wear more weight than the other. However, she paused and thought about Lee, _You know, maybe they're not so overrated after all._

Sasuke and Naruto waited a minute for Sakura, that minute quickly became two, then ten, then twenty. Soon an hour had passed, and there was still no sign of Sakura finishing. "Ok, Women take too long to shop." Naruto groaned.

"For once I actually agree with you." Sasuke moaned.

They waited a few more minutes until she came to them holding a suit that was too similar to theirs. "You guys think this looks ok?"

"It- It's almost the exact same thing we're getting…" Naruto muttered, getting a glare from her he straighten up and said, "Um, yes, looks wonderful if I do say myself!"

"I thought so." She said, a smile was on her face. "Ok, let's get out of here!" She said, both followed her again to the front of the shop.

Sasuke walked forward and grabbed his wallet and asked, "How much is it all?"

The same man from earlier was there and said, "60,000 ryou."

"60,000?" Sasuke asked, his eyes widening for a bit. "That's a bit much." He said suspiciously.

"Don't have the money?" The man smiled, "Then get out and give me those back." He held out his hand expectantly.

_That bastard_, Sasuke thought to himself, he sighed inwardly, "what's the real price?" He said, putting emphasis on the word 'real'.

"That is the real price." The man sneered.

Naruto had enough. He jumped up to his feet and jumped at the man. He climbed onto his chest and got a grip on the collar of his shirt and snarled in his face, "Damn you! I waited over an hour! We don't have time to waste like this!" He gathered chakra into his eyes and opened them, showing a red hue, "Now lower that damn price." He said in as demonic a voice he could muster with the demon chakra active within him.

This definitely got the desired result. The man let out a short scream and Naruto got off him. "You can have it all for free! Just get out of here demon!" He shouted throwing the gear at Naruto and his two friends."

Sasuke placed some money on the counter anyways. "Thanks." He said.

"OUT!" The man shouted as loud as he could. _I am going to report this directly to the Hokage! The demon is getting control!_

The three children hurried out of the shop as quickly as possible, in fear that the man may scream at them again alerting others.

Once they ran a fair distance away, Sakura turned towards Naruto and smacked him hard across the head, "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Well, I think I would have snapped a long time ago if I were in his shoes." Sasuke added as a side thought. "Though I think that may come back and bite us in the ass later."

Naruto snorted, "Who cares, if anyone does anything to you two even if it's a small thing I'm going to kick their ass, At least we got the clothes for a lower price."

"Yeah," Sakura sighed, "Free."

Naruto patted her on the back, "Want to go get Ramen?"

"No Naruto. Just because you didn't eat breakfast with us this morning, doesn't mean I am willing to pay for you." Sasuke said and turned round the corner. The three of them were on a narrow stretch of road, wooden fences lined the sides of both sides of the road and some benches were along them as well.

As they continued down Naruto couldn't help but say, "I feel as though we're being followed." Being trained by Jiraiya definitely had its benefits, Naruto was able to hone his skills in more than the three Jutsu's each ninja was required to know. He was able to 'feel' if he was being followed, whenever a set of eyes looked at him long enough it felt as though the hair on his neck would begin to stand.

"Yeah, I feel it too." Sasuke whispered. Sakura simply nodded her agreement.

"What should we do?" Naruto asked as they walked, not facing the direction that the people surely were. They all looked at one another, and decided that it would be best if they just stayed silent, hoping for the best.

When they were about the reach the end of the road they were on, several ANBU members jumped in front of them. Five members stood there, all in their black robes with masks on. The one in the lead was one wearing a Dog mask.

"Uzumaki, Uchiha, Haruno. You three must come with us." He spoke out with authority in his voice. "The Hokage will see you three little spies."

"Eh, what are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, with a questionable look on his face, he looked down at the clothes they recently bought and went, "Oh! I paid for these, it's just the owner was screaming so loud he probably missed it. Here, I'll pay you some for the trouble." He grabbed his wallet.

The ANBU simply swatted away his wallet, his voice still as emotionless as it was before. "No jokes. Now come with us."

The three eyed each other. "Ok," Sakura said, "We don't want any trouble."

Naruto and Sasuke knew that she was right, there was no way they could beat these guys in their current state, so they lowered their guard and allowed the ANBU to surround them and begin to escort them to the Hokage tower.

They jumped on top of the buildings and began to go at unimaginable speeds. Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other worriedly.

_What the hell, doesn't the old man trust us? _Naruto thought angrily to himself, _I figured we gave enough proof as it is…_

They made it to the Tower, and walked in. They went down the halls, no one speaking to one another. All three of the children kept their emotions in check. To be a successful ninja one must never show his or her emotions, even if death is certain. Of course, Naruto and Sakura both occasionally broke this rule, like when they were about to die.

Naruto snapped from his thoughts of that rule and looked ahead; they stood in front of the door of the Hokage's office.

_Time to find out what you want Old Man_. Naruto thought as they were lead into the room with the Hokage sitting there. He looked up at them and smiled.

"Hello, it's nice to see you here in a timely fashion." He said happily. He looked at the ANBU, "You all can leave now." They all began to walk out before he called out, "Hold on, you." He said pointing at the one with the dog mask on, "Stay here."

_Hm, Seems this isn't what I thought it was going to be_, Sasuke thought to himself.

"What do you desire Hokage-sama?" He said bowing down to the person. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all walked to the left of the room, as the Hokage got up and put up silencing seals and the chakra seals from the last time he spoke with the children.

"Kakashi." The Hokage spoke evenly, "You said you were to quit being in ANBU within a month, correct?"

Sakura and Naruto looked up instantly, "Kakashi-sensei?" They said in disbelief. Sasuke just had a curious look in his eyes.

The man took his mask off, and the silver hair, the forehead protector going over the left eye, and the masks were all the same as they remembered it. "I assume you trust these three if you're using my name."

"Yes Kakashi." Sarutobi said as he walked forward, "As your last mission as an ANBU agent, I want you to spend the next year training these three in the art of being an ANBU agent."

Kakashi looked down at the three children then back up to the man and said, "Ok, you're pulling my leg right? They're only nine, I mean sure Naruto and Sasuke can both use Kage Bunshin, a high level forbidden jutsu," He got lost in thought, "And Sakura can do medical jutsu's, which I didn't even know they taught at the academy."

"Sensei-," Sakura was going to say, but was cut off by the man himself.

"Why do you keep calling me your Sensei?" A curious look in his eye, "I haven't even accepted the mission yet."

Sasuke decided to speak up now, "In the old timeline, that's who you were to us in our Genin team."

"What are you talking about?" He finally asked.

"Kakashi." Sarutobi said, "What you know here is an S-class secret, no one must know of what you will learn today." Kakashi nodded. "These three used some complex jutsu to come back in time to change this timeline. They know what is supposed to come, but they don't want to change anything too drastically. I'm sure you've already spotted some differences with them already."

Kakashi was silent, "I see. Well, the Haruno girl was all over the Uchiha here, but seem to have a change of heart over night. They know some complex jutsu's, and I can feel lots of raw chakra coming off of all of them."

"If you don't believe us, ask us any question about you in the future decade or so, and we'll answer it." Sakura said with an all-knowing grin on her face.

"Fine," He thought for a moment, "If you all became my Genin team what was the test I conducted?"

Sakura answered saying, "You wanted us to get bells from you. Problem was that there were only two. The real goal of the test was to see our teamwork skills. In the end, Sasuke and I end up breaking the rules you set to help Naruto, and you passed us."

Kakashi nodded, "Sounds just like my sensei's test."

"Anything else?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi sighed, "If you know so much about me, why not tell me my whole life story?"

Naruto nodded, "That's easy. You were teamed up with the Fourth Hokage, an Uchiha named Obito, and a girl named Rin. You were recently promoted and it was your turn to lead the mission. Of course your teammates were supposed to get you some presents or something like that and Obito didn't have any." Naruto checked to see if Kakashi was paying attention, he was, "In the end, the enemy ninja capture Rin and Obito goes to save her, you lose your left eye, and while in the cave Rin was in the enemy ninja tried to crush you all."

"Unfortunately only you and Rin got out unharmed," Sakura continued, "Obito was about to die just after activation his Sharingan. He decides to give it to you as a present for being promoted and dies shortly after. Rin goes away after that mission, and that's why you visit that rock every day."

When she finished Kakashi sighed and asked, "That's a story that I usually don't tell many people. What was the occasion on which I told you?"

Naruto and Sakura looked around a little uncertain of whether to say or not. "Well," Naruto mumbled, "When we went to go save Sasuke there, we ran into some difficulties and-"

"You got injured," Sakura sighed, "Badly."

Kakashi just nodded, "No need to say more."

This was all new to Sasuke, he had never heard of Kakashi's past, and he now heard that he was responsible for the death of his sensei. He looked down some sadness in his eyes, "Sorry guys, I won't let him get me this time."

Naruto and Sakura both nodded towards Sasuke, expecting him to live up to that.

Kakashi sighed and said, "Hokage-sama, I accept this mission."

"Good Kakashi, I knew that they'd change your mind." He looked down at a document in his hands and said, "They'll be ready to begin ANBU training whenever you see fit. Making out a schedule for them should be your first priority, they all have different strengths in different areas, and you need to get them all set for when they are to begin training to harness their massive chakra."

"Ok." Kakashi said, "Well begin training at the end of the week. You three better be ready," He said turning to the children, "Because I will not go easy on you."

---END---

03/24/10 – Documented changes:

-New conversation between Naruto and Sasuke in the beginning about Danzo and Itachi.

-Got rid of the subplot involving Sakura's inner personality. It was stupid in my opinion because her inner personality represented what she was too shy to say on the outside, it was not a completely different person.

-Tried to make the part about them being followed more clear, because even I was confused when I first read it. However, on second thought I just removed it entirely, because they aren't supposed to know WHY they are being followed at this point.

-Got rid of a lot of ellipses and grammar mistakes. Along with Sakura saying kun at the end of Naruto's name, and a lot of the people calling Naruto a demon has been removed.

This is the first chapter in which I actually rewrote a few scenes. I hope you enjoy it. See you all in the rewrite of chapter 4!


	4. Training Begins at Last!

REWRITTEN

XxXxXxX

Today was the day. Finally they would begin their training that would allow them to become strong enough to be able to actually do something to assist the village in its time of despair in the up coming events that were going to soon pass. They wouldn't be useless for anyone, would be a valuable resource to the village, and be able to save all those that die.

_Including Old man Hokage! _Naruto smiled at his reflection, never before had he wanted to simply go to Sasuke and give him a kiss straight on the lips for allowing them a chance to do this; _Actually, I don't want to do that._

He looked back towards his reflection and looked himself over; he was finally wearing the suit that they had 'bought' from the man a few days ago to train with. He put the mask up and covered his mouth. _I wonder how Kakashi can do this for so long… _His had all his Kunai and projectiles taped to his right leg, and his belt was empty of all things, though he planned add some survival scrolls into it. If he were to fight at night, the enemy would never know where he came from.

_When I get strong enough, I'll save everyone this time! _His thoughts commonly went back to the Hokage that they were serving under at the moment, _Sasuke says this is a different time line, and that nothing is going to go the same here. _

He walked out of the bathroom he was in feeling refreshed. Sasuke and Sakura were not in sight, so he began to walk down the hallway where he knew the kitchen was, a small snack wouldn't hurt. _Sasuke should have something else besides oatmeal. _He gagged at the thought of eating that again.

He entered the Kitchen and walked over to the various counters around the place. He finally spotted some cereal, which was not his favorite, but it would have to do. He'd eat the tasteless stuff even if it wasn't ramen, it was like Sasuke and Sakura were trying to keep him away from ramen, all week, since they got here, they have always suggested something else when he attempted to go there.

_Hold on, _His eyes narrowed, _I see what's going on here! _He wanted to be angry at his friends, but only a smile found its way to his face, "Meh, maybe it won't stop my growth as people say." He chuckled a little and grabbed the cereal and some milk and walked to a table.

"Well, Kakashi didn't say where to meet him, so I guess I'll wait here. I wonder where Sakura-chan and Sasuke are." He muttered to himself and took a bite of the cereal in front of him. He gagged slightly from the flavor. "What is this?" He looked over the box of cereal and nearly cried, "Damn you Sasuke! Does everything you eat have to be healthy?"

It was simply a cereal brand that added too much fruit to the mix of dry wheat, just what Naruto hated. _Ok, this stuff sucks; I need to find something else._

Knowing he wouldn't find anything here, he got up and walked out of the house, not bothering to put the food away, he was sure Sasuke would thank him later for that.

"Well, see you later house!" He said, knowing nothing would respond from the outside of it anyway.

(Konoha, ninja academy.)

"Tell Naruto I am so proud of him. To get so good in such a short period of time, then to have the Sharingan Kakashi be his Genin instructor. He is going to make it far." Iruka praised his favorite student.

Sarutobi had told Iruka and the class the back up story that they created, they being Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and himself. They said the three of them were good enough to be on their own team already at such a young age and can begin missions. Of course, the class and Iruka immediately bought it, because it was coming from the mouth of the Hokage.

They were in the ninja academy classroom, Sasuke and Sakura were called by Iruka to pick some things up, but Naruto was sleeping, so they decided to leave him at the home. Both wore their new outfits, all fitting perfectly in place.

_He can't do much harm, _Sasuke thought to himself, but there was a little bit of doubt in his mind though.

"Class!" Iruka shouted, getting their attention. "As you all know, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura have all passed class three years earlier than planned, so I'd like you all to give a round of applause for them!" Very few people clapped.

A child stood up and yelled, "Why did Naruto pass? That dead last just got lucky against Sasuke!"

Sakura nodded along before saying, "He's much better than you." Her glare caused him to sit back down, and not say another word.

"Naruto," Sasuke began, "Is my equal; none of you can match up to him. Sakura is the smartest person I know, besides you Shikamaru." Shikamaru raised his head and barely gave any acknowledgment, "And she is better in Genjutsu than Naruto and I, and can also use medical jutsus." He stopped and gathered in another breath, "If any of you think you're deserving of graduating early, you'll have to beat one of us to prove it."

Right after he said that most of the people wanted to challenge Naruto and Sakura. They all 'knew' Sasuke was the best in the class and didn't both fighting him, but the other two, the class was very unsure about.

"Enough!" Iruka shouted. The class went silent again and Iruka said, "Sasuke, Sakura, give this to Naruto." He handed them a forehead protector, "And you two can have these." He handed them two different forehead protectors. "I am proud of you two."

Sakura gave the man a hug, "Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

He was shocked slightly at first but hugged her back, "You too, I'll miss you three!" Sasuke waved his hand behind him as he began to walk out, and Sakura followed, right before they walked out of the door Iruka called out, "Make sure Naruto doesn't get into any trouble!"

"I'll make sure of that!" Sakura shouted back and walked out.

Iruka sighed as they left and turned to the class, "Ready?" He asked happily.

"No…" Most of the class responded back.

"Great! Iruka shouted, "Now let's begin." He turned to the board behind him and began to write multiple things.

(Ichiraku Ramen stand)

"Another bowl old man!" Naruto shouted as he drank the last bit of the ramen broth. He put the bowl in the growing stack next to him. He sighed and leaned back slightly, "This taste so much better when you've not gone with it for almost half a week."

Teuchi smiled at Naruto, "For a minute I had thought you've abandoned ramen."

Naruto gasped way over dramatically and screamed, "I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING!"

Another bowl was placed in front of him and the speech he was about to say became void as he dug into it. _I love Ramen! _Was all that was running though his head at that moment.

"So Naruto. I heard you became a Genin today. At such a young age! I am so proud of you!" The man said while preparing the child's next order, which the child didn't make just yet, but he knew the boy more than most would know.

"Yeah?" Naruto said, "How'd you know?"

Teuchi turned to the child, "A group of people came here complaining about it and ordered some ramen." He said, his face frowning, he leaned towards Naruto and said, "Don't tell anyone this, but I charged them a little extra for complaining."

"You're awesome Old man!" Naruto laughed as he finished the next bowl, and on cue Teuchi replaced the bowl with another one. "Thanks!"

"I know you Naruto; I am guessing you'll be getting," He examined the stack, "About three or four more before you get full and stop."

Naruto snorted, "Ha! Yeah right, I'll eat until I burst!"

"Sure you will." Teuchi sighed, "So Naruto, how'd you become a Genin exactly?"

Naruto swallowed a bundle of noodles and replied, "Kakashi-sensei watched us while we sparred at the academy, seeing how much cooler and advanced we were, he decided to have us graduate early and teach us things that could really help us."

"Oh?" He said, "Not bad Naruto, I'd think getting the attention of Kakashi would require a lot of skill."

Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah!"

"Who are your two teammates? The people didn't exactly give me details on who else passed."

"Sasuke and Sakura, they're the two I introduced to you a few days ago." He looked both left and right before leaning in and saying, "Between you and me, I think they're trying to prevent me from coming here, every time I suggest this place they quickly come up with something else and drag me away. Sasuke only has gross stuff in his house, like HEALTHY crap." Naruto looked bitter.

The look on Teuchi's face was one of disgust, "They force you to not eat ramen? That's," He looked up and screamed, "Horrible! How could they torture any poor soul like that?"

"I know!" Naruto shouted back, "It's like they want me to die or something!"

Teuchi's hands slammed on the bar, "I ought to get them here and force some ramen right down their throats! He made several bowls of ramen himself and sat next to Naruto, "Listening to that horrible story makes me desire to taste ramen to make sure nothing bad will happen to me." He began eating as he placed another bowl in front of Naruto, "This one is on the house!"

Both of them lifted up their chopsticks and shouted, "FOR THE RAMEN!" They began eating it at speeds unimaginable to all mankind.

"Naruto? Are you in there?" Sakura asked from outside the place. She entered along with Sasuke. "Naruto do you know where Kakashi might be?"

"She's the woman?" Teuchi asked, Naruto nodded quickly, "You! How dare you take the power of ramen away from this young boy! What will guide him through the future generations?!"

"… What?" She asked slightly confused.

"You heard him! You have been keeping me away from the power of the ramen! But not anymore! I am in control of this now, and you will do as I ask!" Naruto proclaimed, "NOW!"

Teuchi rolled over the counter and grabbed the two bowls of ramen and threw them at the two children, "This better work!"

Both dodged the bowls and heard sound of things breaking in the background.

"What the hell is up with you Naruto?" Sasuke asked, a twitch was visible in his eyebrow.

"Old man! They AVOIDED THE RAMEN!" Naruto shouted, slamming his hands on the bar, "What will we do?!"

"Who could have guessed two gifted children could dodge two bowls that I threw with an old hand that was at least going at speeds of ten miles per hour!" Teuchi sighed, "I can't stand to look at you Naruto! I have failed you!"

"No Old man! It is I that has failed you! Please, accept this!" He pulled out a huge wad of cash, "Please, it is the only way to restore my honor in the ramen!"

Teuchi sighed and said, "Naruto, honor cannot be bought back by money, you must FIGHT FOR IT!" He turned him to Sakura and said, "Now, do as your destiny as told you to do!"

_What? I didn't think they were so close, _Sakura thought, _if I'd of known that I wouldn't have kept them from each other. _"Naruto," She sighed, "I am sorry I have kept you from coming here, I didn't think you two were this close to each other."

"So you'll let me come here now?" Naruto asked, hope evident in his voice.

She looked at the stack of bowls he had and turned slightly green before saying, "Only if you cut the amount of ramen you have by sixteen bowls."

"SIXTEEN!" Naruto counted the bowls that he had and said, "That only leaves me with three bowls!" He sighed, "Ok, I guess that's the best I can get out of her old man." He turned to the man and showed a peace sign with his hands. "I hope that has restored my honor."

Teuchi nodded, "It's enough my boy, it's enough." He gave Naruto a hug and said, "Don't get hurt during any of your missions Naruto, or I'll have to kick your ass so you'll know better."

Naruto nodded while in his friends' arms, "Yeah, you better not close up anytime soon, or I'll come and kick your ass."

Teuchi let go of Naruto and said, "Go far Naruto."

"Am I interrupting something?" Kakashi asked, looking with an amused smile at his new students.

"We were just going out to look for you." Naruto said, He turned back to Teuchi and said, "Thank you for everything." He bowed, showing respect to him and began to leave.

"Naruto! I meant what I said earlier!" Teuchi shouted, "Don't get hurt!"

"Don't worry bout it Old man!" Naruto shouted back, a grin on his face again. Once that exchange was done with Kakashi jumped to the rooftops to see how well his students could keep up with him. To his pleasure, they were able to do this with relative ease, though he wasn't going as fast as he usually would.

"You're close to him Naruto." Kakashi observed.

"I always have been." Naruto confirmed.

Nothing else was said as they made their way to the training fields.

(Training fields)

The four of them got there in a timely fashion. Kakashi checked on his students to see how they were holding up. Sakura was on the ground breathing heavily, while Sasuke and Naruto were holding onto their knees panting.

"This… sucks…" Naruto muttered, "I could run faster than that for almost a day before I even got exhausted."

"All in due time Naruto." Kakashi said, "If you three really do come from the future, I think you know what ANBU testing is like?" The three children looked up at him in horror, "No! I'm not going to give it to you now! That would be way too much strain on your little bodies."

"Ok then, why did you mention it?" Sasuke asked, shakily standing back up.

Kakashi nodded and said, "At the end of the year, I am going to give it to you three. If you each can equal me, or surpass me one on one, then you'll become an ANBU agent, if you're below my skill, another year until the next test." All three looked shocked.

"Another year?" Naruto shouted, "Why so long?"

"Motivation." Sakura answered, "We can't fall behind, and I have a feeling Kakashi-sensei is serious here."

Kakashi grinned, "Right you are," he pulled out some Kunai and said, "You say you need to regain control of your chakra? The best way to do that is doing all the exercises from bottom to top." He threw the kunai at their feet and said, "Get to work." The three nodded, knowing what to do.

They turned to the trees surrounding them and began to climb up. Sakura was again, the first one to easily get up to the top within seconds. Naruto and Sasuke unfortunately were not so fortunate.

"One, two, one, two-" Naruto was saying as he placed one foot after another on the tree as he climbed up it, suddenly the bark exploded under his foot about halfway up the tree and he fell. He quickly recovered in mid air and landed on his feet. "Damn it!"

"Much better than last time Naruto!" Sakura called from above.

Sasuke was having as much success as Naruto. He got a little above the halfway point and the bark exploded under his foot as well. When he landed on his feet Kakashi came up.

"Sakura, since you have this down, I want you to continue walking up and down until you're exhausted. To gain more control of chakra, it is required to be able to use more chakra." The three nodded at his logic. "It seems you three are going to be finished with this exercise a lot faster than I realized, Sasuke, Naruto, when you both get it down I want you to do just what I instructed Sakura to do."

"Yes Kakashi-sensei!" Both boys said.

What Kakashi said held true, Naruto and Sasuke were easily able to get it down within the hour. He made them walk upside down and such, and before they knew it, they were all exhausted and out of chakra to manipulate. The three of them sat back to back of each other, in a small triangular shape.

"Well." Kakashi said, "You three are going to do well. Tomorrow we'll begin the physical training. You need to be in top shape to be an ANBU agent."

The three could only groan, they never knew Kakashi could actually be serious while training people. "Is that all for today?" Sakura groaned.

"Yep, come back here tomorrow at six in the morning." He said, and teleported away in a whirl of leaves.

The three sighed, "Well, I don't think I'm going anywhere." Naruto sighed.

Sasuke groaned, "We have to eat something, and drink something, I'm thirsty as hell."

"Drink your spit…" Naruto replied.

"Naruto, I think that actually makes you thirstier than you already are," Sakura explained, "We have to move, Kakashi wants us to be able to get some good rest and get something to eat so our energy is restored."

"I think I'll be able to get some rest fine here," Naruto said leaning into Sakura, "You're comfortable enough."

"Okay, let's go." Sasuke said, but he fell on deaf ears.

"Naruto I think it's only right for a man to allow a woman to be the one to have a pillow." Sakura giggled slightly, despite her exhausted nature.

Naruto snorted, "Oh? But you're so soft."

"Please…" Sasuke called, trying to end it before it truly began.

"You like it?" Sakura asked, a smile on her face, "Well, if we get home you can rest on me then."

"Really?" Naruto asked sitting up straight, "What about all that stuff about how a man should be a woman's pillow?"

"Are you guys even talking about sleeping on each other anymore?" Sasuke sighed.

"Sasuke's right Naruto." Sakura stood up slowly, and Naruto fell on the ground where she sat. She fell down on top of him however. "My feet hurt." She pouted as she slid off Naruto's chest.

"Want me to carry you?" Naruto offered.

Sakura giggled, "I thought you'd never ask." He shakily got up and stood low so she could get on his back. She complied and got on.

Sasuke stood up and sighed, "You two know that ignoring me is quite rude."

"You say something Sasuke?" Naruto asked glancing at him, "Thanks for being quiet with that moment between me and Sakura, we're glad you didn't interfere."

"Right," Sasuke said, eye twitching once again, "that's what a friend's for."

The three of them went home that like that, and as soon as they got to the room they usually sleep, they all collapsed on the same couch.

(Training Areas, Next day)

Kakashi watched as his students slowly walked forward, all of them were rested and have eaten and were ready for a new day of training.

"You all look well." He said with a sadistic glint in his eyes. "Shall we begin now?"

The three children looked at each other with uncertainty in their eyes, "You won't kill us, right?" Naruto asked. "I mean, you're here on time, and that's weird enough."

"Depends if you're too slow." He simply answered. "Yesterday when we were running here, you three lagged behind a little over halfway here, so I plan to increase your agility a little bit! I want you to run several laps around this place, however, you could stop at anytime, so to motivate you I will do this." He produced a scroll and summoned several rather large dogs. "Here they are!"

"You-" Sakura started.

"Wouldn't-" Sasuke continued.

"Dare!" Naruto concluded.

Kakashi smiled at his students' terrified looks. "Oh, but I would! Boys." The dogs perked up, "I'd like you to all chase them and make sure they don't lag behind while they run around this training field, you have my permission to harm them as you will if they do."

All the large dogs seem to grin at that, and their tails began to wag quickly.

"Nice doggie…" Naruto whispered.

"BEGIN!" Kakashi announced. "I'll be right here." He pulled out a book and his students didn't even have to look at it to know what it was.

This lasted for several hours. Of course, Kakashi knew his students would eventually fall behind far enough so his dogs could get them, but he a secret hand sign his dogs would look out for so they knew when to lay off. His students didn't know of this, but what they didn't know would only help them improve over time.

"Ok!" Kakashi called as he came into the clearing again. The dogs disappeared, and all three of them collapsed as soon as they knew nothing was going to bite their legs off as soon as they slowed down. Each fell down to exhausted to even say a thing at the moment.

"You three did excellent!, tomorrow we'll go back to chakra control exercises, and then we'll switch back to physical things. We'll continue this for about two or so months, and then we'll begin to individually train you in your strengths, so be prepared for some difficult times ahead of you."

True to what he said, they did have to go through very difficult times. They had to learn how to water walk, which took them a little bit longer then tree walking, then they had to learn how to do it simply with hands and no feet. The physical part of the training wasn't much easier, it could probably be considered harder by some. Kakashi had them running some days, and lifting things the other, and Sakura was not allowed to use her super strength abilities with this.

Kakashi didn't lead them on any missions during this time, for his ANBU in training needed to do exactly as the mission stated; to train. They of course were beginning to pass through the chakra exercises when they were slowly but surely getting control of their chakra back, and their physical exercises were becoming easier on them as well.

Finally, after three months, Kakashi had called them to a small meeting with the Hokage. None of his students knew what they were expected to do, but they followed their sensei's orders without question, like any ANBU would do.

In the Hokage office they all sat together. Kakashi standing in front of the desk of the Hokage, the Hokage behind it, and the three ANBU in trainings all sat in chairs behind Kakashi.

"I'm glad to see you all." The Hokage said as he straightened himself on his seat and looked up from all the paperwork he was doing. "What's their strength at the moment Kakashi?"

"Hokage-sama, they're advancing faster than I expected, but I believe it's because they have the chakra within them, they just need to control it. However, they're gaining much better control over it, and their physical status is much better than how embarrassingly bad it was a few months ago."

"I see Kakashi, and what rank would you put them at right now?" The Hokage asked, interested.

Kakashi thought for a moment before saying, "If they were to all go at me at once, I believe I would be the one to fall, but individually they're all mid-chuunin about."

"I see." Sarutobi said. He turned to the three and said, "I guess you're wondering why you're here?"

"Yeah," Sakura admitted, "It just looks like Kakashi is giving you a status report." Naruto and Sasuke nodded in agreement with their teammate.

"That's what that was, yes." He paused and looked proud and said, "As you all know, ANBU cannot go around in public claiming who they are. They need a second identity, and rather than give you all D-rank missions that do little to increase your skill, I have decided to 'promote' you all to Chuunin and allow you all to begin doing C or B ranked missions."

Naruto looked thrilled, as did Sakura. Sasuke just grinned happily. "Really Old man!" Naruto went and hugged him, "Thank god! I had nightmares about doing D-ranked missions, and now I don't have to do them at ALL!" He said gleefully.

"I'm glad you're happy Naruto." Sarutobi smiled and pulled Naruto off of him. "Here are all the available missions you can do." He grabbed a folder that was full of papers and laid them across the table. "All the C and B ranked missions we have for Chuunin."

_It's funny, Last time we never became a Chuunin team before I left. Now we're a chuunin team years before we became a Genin team. _He hid his smile and looked through the missions with the rest of them.

Naruto eyed another folder and grabbed it and stealthily went away from the group without them noticing, all besides Sarutobi however, but he simply allowed him to continue on, paying no heed to him.

"Well," Sakura said looking through the missions, "This one looks interesting," It was an escort mission to Suna. _We may be able to find Gaara, _The mission was ranked C.

Sasuke picked one up as well and read through it, _this is where people claim Itachi has been recently. _He had heard off some gossiping people one day after training of a ninja wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. Sasuke as usual, connected it with Itachi. The mission itself was a protection mission for some rich family, and was ranked as B.

"Which missions do you all desire to do?" The Hokage asked kindly.

"This one!" Sakura and Sasuke slammed each other papers on the desk and yelled at the same time. When they realized that both of them said it they glared towards each other.

"We're doing this one!" Sakura said, "It's an escort mission to Suna, and in Suna is Gaara. As you know, he's kind of insane right now if I remember correctly, so if we go there and make him sane again he could become a huge help during the Chuunin exams in several years."

Sasuke sighed, "That damn organization, Akatsuki, has been spotted here. If we go there, we may be able to find Itachi!"

"It was just a lead! And we don't even know if Itachi would be the one to be there if we did go there! What if it was someone like Hidan or Sasori? We'd be in huge trouble – I doubt you could convince them to try and join us, though we're not even sure if you could do that with Itachi!"

"What!" Sasuke yelled, glaring at her, "Gaara is hardly important! He will join us in due time! Right now gaining a potential ally out of my brother, or even KILL one of them would really help us in the future!"

"You didn't hear what I just said did you!" Sakura yelled, "If we go there, we WILL BE KILLED! You may have forgotten, but Akatsuki is full of S-class criminals, and with as powerful as we are now they could easily just LOOK at us and we'll die."

Sasuke shouted, "If we try to convert Gaara now what would the Kazekage do? He'd obviously think we're trying to take away his damn toy, and relations with Suna would become worse than they already are!"

Kakashi and Sarutobi both watched on with amusement and were kind of disturbed. When two nine year olds fight about a mission in such detail, it was hard to take any of it seriously, especially when their voices began to get higher in anger.

"I got it!" Naruto shouted as he snatched a paper out of the folder he was skimming through. He ran to the desk and slammed in above both Sasuke's and Sakura's and got in-between both of them and said, "We need to do this one!"

All the other four in the room looked at the paper. "An S-rank assassination mission?" Sarutobi questioned. "Sakura and Sasuke both had a much more reasonable mission, beside the fact that they wanted to do it for different purposes."

"No! You don't get it! Read what it wants us to do!" He pointed at the text on the paper.

"Naruto," Sakura sighed, grabbing the folder that he got the paper from, "These are discarded missions, usually qualified as unsafe, or may injure stability issues with other nations, or simply under paying."

"No," Sasuke looked through the one Naruto picked, "We're doing this."

"Our client wants us to eliminate a so called, 'crime lord' in the Wave country?" Kakashi said looking through it over his student's shoulders.

"Gatou!" Sakura said that moment. "That's perfect; did Tazuna give out this mission again?" She asked, grabbing the page from her friend's hand and reading it over, she let it slip from her hands as she read the name of the client, "Kaiza!"

"Who's that again?" Sasuke asked after a moment of silence, "My memory is a little off. That was like six or seven years ago."

Sakura sighed and said, "Remember the little brat? Inari?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said, "He's the kid whose grandpa couldn't stop saying 'Super' to save his life."

"Anyway," Sakura said, "He's his dad, well not necessarily his dad, but a father figure to the boy."

Sarutobi chose to come in now saying, "I assume you three know how this situation with Gatou will turn out? Care to explain?"

"Gatou is a crime lord; he went to wave country to take all their money away. I think by now he'd have been there for a little more than a month. In about a week he will kill Kaiza, and completely destroy the bravery of the people. We're going to prevent his death." Sakura explained.

"You're playing god!" Kakashi said, eyes widened when he realized the plan.

"No. This is a different timeline, nothing is set in stone. We can do what we want without any consequences occurring because it was 'fated' to happen." Sasuke explained.

Sarutobi nodded, "Are you sure you want to do this? You're abandoning your chances to possibly find your brother Sasuke, and help this Gaara child."

"Sasuke was right, it would hurt our relation with the Sand too much." Sakura admitted.

"And Sakura was right as well, death isn't an option for us right now." Sasuke explained.

"This is an S-rank mission, but what you're planning to do will put your lives at risk." Sarutobi said, the others looked on, fearing that he'd not let them do it, "But, I fear if I say no to you, you'll do it anyways." He grinned at them, "Kakashi said you three could take him down if you fought together, he may travel alone, but you three must stick together, they may have some high ranked missing ninja on their team."

"Kakashi. Protect them well." Sarutobi simply said. "You are dismissed; I expect a successful mission report here by two weeks."

Kakashi turned to his team, "Ok, get ready within ten minutes, we'll begin heading towards the wave country and meet our client there."

The three were about to leave but Kakashi called again, "Naruto."

"Yes Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looked towards the floor, "I am sorry that I once thought you were the demon within you." He bowed down towards Naruto.

"Don't worry Kakashi, you'd have gotten over it in two years anyways," Naruto smiled, "See you in front of the gates."

"He just rubbed off my apology," Kakashi sighed, "He's a good kid."

Sarutobi called from behind Kakashi, "Kakashi, do not let them get harmed in any way, they are the strength of the village at the moment, if one were to die. Our future could be ruined. They are playing with this timeline, they know fate won't kill those that they end up saving, and this could be both bad and good. We'll need them here to correct help our village from any future misfortunes." Sarutobi looked on at Kakashi with a serious look.

"I will not fail." Kakashi simply answered.

When Kakashi disappeared within a swirl of leaves Sarutobi leaned against the back of his chair. _Sometimes I forget that they are not simply children, that their minds work like an adults would. It's both unfortunate and fortunate for them._

(Konoha, Front Gates)

The forest of the Fire country was much different than the name of the country would suggest. First of all, it's not at all on fire. Secondly, it was a forest, meaning lots and lots of green and trees. This was good for the ninja of Konoha, as it allowed them to travel quickly between their towns.

Three children all gathered together just as their sensei began to come,

Kakashi walked forth, not late once again. "You guys ready to go?"

Getting over how he was yet again early they all replied saying, "Yes Kakashi-sensei."

"Good. We have a two-week deadline; let's make the most of our time. We're going to be there by tomorrow." Kakashi ran forward and quickly jumped in the trees, no sooner than he did, the three children followed suit.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked nervously, "In the old timeline, you were always late for everything, usually hours late, but now, well, you're really quick, almost early."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes. When it comes to training and protecting the very future of our village, I will do what it takes to do so. Sarutobi trusts me in training you three so you may advise us on what to do in the future. We may make a fatal mistake, but we'll trust you three when it comes to the important situations."

"He trusts us that much?" Sakura asked, a little surprised.

Kakashi nodded, "You three have proven that you are indeed from the future, and all the things you told Sarutobi made him worried about his choices. Of course he'll still do them, but he'll want you three there to correct his mistakes that he made in your, um, old timeline."

"Ah, it makes sense now." Sasuke sighed, "I worked with Orochimaru, and I know all his strategies, and Akatsuki will not kill so many of our ninja as well, and We'll be able to advise him on what to do during the Chuunin exams that will be held in our village in three years."

"When you can," Naruto said, "Appoint Shikamaru's father as the village's advisor. He's the smartest person I know of. His son is almost just as smart, if not more so. He could lead us out of anything."

The three continued through the forest at high speeds until they finally stopped in a relatively small clearing. Naruto and Sakura both unrolled their sleeping bags side by side, and Sasuke and Kakashi were on the opposite side of the both of them, on the other side of the fire they had built.

Kakashi and Sasuke both agreed to do Lookout duty for the night. Sasuke would go first, and then Kakashi would do it for the rest of the night.

Sasuke leaned against a tree a fair distance away from all his companions and sighed. "I hate guard duty."

"Everyone does at first." Sasuke jumped, and pulled out a kunai from his pouch strapped to his right leg and brought it straight up to defend from the attacker. Fortunately it was just Kakashi.

"Don't do that." Sasuke sighed.

"You were too relaxed Sasuke. When guarding your allies you must always be on high alert. The smallest of noises you must make sure is not an ambush." Kakashi criticized.

Sasuke had an annoyed expression on his face, "We're not even being chased by anyone. There's no point to being highly alerted."

"Sasuke, you always have to be highly alert, no matter what the cause is. There could have been a spy in the village that overheard our mission, or a group of bandits might come across us as we sleep. As unlikely as any of these events are, you always have to be highly alert on look out duty."

Sasuke nodded, "I am sorry."

"No need to apologize, just don't make the mistake again."

"Of course." Sasuke answered, and then asked, "What did you mean by what you said earlier?"

"What did I say earlier?"

"You said everyone hates guard duty at first. Why at first?"

"For starters, it allows me to think about things. I can listen to nature, and feel like an essential part of the team. Of course there are the downfalls of which you always have to be alert, and that you lose sleep, but everything in life has draw backs."

"I see."

"Do you mind if I ask you a question Sasuke?"

"Go for it."

"Why did you betray your team?"

Sasuke looked down at the ground, "A lot of reasons, and all of them are stupid."

"Could you elaborate?"

"I was jealous of Naruto's power, I felt like he was surpassing me. I wanted to go to Orochimaru to gain power. I felt like Konoha was a weak place where I wouldn't be able to naturally grow, and you pissed me off with your speech telling me to stop going after vengeance. Only recently have I realized how stupid I was."

"Did your team try to stop you?"

"Try to stop me?" Sasuke let out a bitter laugh, "I fought Naruto at the Valley of the End, and just barely managed to beat him. Though, I think he was holding back because he didn't want to hurt me. Sakura was at the entrance when I was beginning to leave, and she also tried to stop me."

"I see."

"I was a stupid kid. I don't think they'll ever truly forgive me."

"Oh? It seems like they all ready have."

"Yeah, it looks like it, but I am sure that they still hold some sort of grudge against me. I know I would in their shoes."

"I don't know Sasuke, from what I can tell, that just doesn't seem to be Naruto's nature to hold a grudge, and Sakura always is joking around and laughing with you – disregarding when you fought over the mission."

"You might be right." Sasuke allowed, "Why are you asking me these questions?"

"I want to get to know my team. Every conversation with one of you gives me a picture of your personality, and how you'll behave on the team." Kakashi explained.

"I see." Sasuke managed to say, "How do you judge me?"

"There seems to be some issues you need to cover with your friends, but you genuinely want to be their friends now, and truly regret your past actions. I find that you're a good kid Sasuke, I would trust you."

"Thanks." Sasuke sighed, "I wish I could hear it from them though."

"Sasuke, they care for you still. You don't need to prove anything to them; they know you will not betray them again. They trust you not to do that again."

"You think so?" Sasuke asked thoughtfully. He shook his head, "I'm going to bed, and it's your turn to watch us as we sleep. Don't let your guard down."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes Sir." He joked.

With a slight frown on his face, Sasuke went to bed on the opposite side of his friends.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Got rid of a sub plot in which Teuchi dies seven years in the future. I felt it really added nothing but senseless angst for Naruto. All mentions of it have been removed.

-Grammar changes and dropped kun, you know the drill now.

-Got rid of references to Shikamaru's death in the future. They will probably be put back in later on in the story somewhere else.

-Rewrote the entire ending conversation to be about Sasuke's concerns over his friendship with Naruto and Sakura rather than about Shikamaru.


	5. A Trip to Wave Country

REWRITTEN

XxXxXxX

"Ok guys, put on your forehead protectors, for this mission, you're Chuunin, not ANBU." Kakashi warned as they walked into the clearing. The three children complied without much resistance at all. They then walked into another clearing.

A forest surrounded three sides of the small house, and a lake resided on the side that was not covered in the forest. There was a dirt road leading out of the area to the village that the people living here were from. Of course, this place brought back many memories for three children.

"Wow, It's almost exactly as I remember it," Naruto reminisced, "It brings back memories, that's for sure."

Sakura nodded from his left, "Yeah, Kakashi-sensei made us practice the Tree walking exercise in these woods." Sasuke merely nodded, proving that he remembered as well.

"Crap!" Naruto nearly shouted, "Haku and Zabuza, what the hell are we going to do with them?"

Sasuke answered, "He won't go to Gatou and be killed there, so he'll probably go work in some other country. It does not concern us of what he does."

"Sasuke's right," Sakura said, then changing the subject she asked, "Shall we go see Tsunami and her family again for the first time?"

Naruto nodded and lead the four of them to the front door and knocked. Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi all got into hiding while Naruto did so, just in case. It was basic ANBU training. Naruto heard the clicking of the doorknob being messed with and got into a battle ready position, just in case.

The door opened very slightly, and a familiar voice called out, "Who is it?"

_Tsunami! _He thought, but quickly snapped out of it and asked, "Is Kaiza home?"

"She quickly opened the door and jumped at the child and said, "NO! You won't take him to Gatou! I'll kill you if I have to resort to it! Just leave please!" She tackled Naruto onto the ground, whose eyes were widened at how scary she seemed to become at that moment.

Mental note: Don't piss off women!

"I'm not here to take Kaiza away to Gatou!" Naruto shouted, and quickly pushed away the woman, "We're here for his mission."

Tsunami got up and still looked defensive. "Really?" She examined the child over and said, "You're from Konoha!" she said as she recognized his forehead protector. "That means Kaiza asked something from you all, what was it?"

"We can only say if the one giving the mission allows us to tell you." Naruto answered automatically.

"Oh okay then," She looked around, "Where's the rest of your team? You did say 'we're' a little bit earlier."

Naruto lifted his left hand and made a signal. "Here they are."

Within a blur Kakashi stood behind Naruto, Sasuke to his right, and Sakura to his left. All were in battle ready positions, holding their Kunai out and all. "Its okay guys, we're in friendly territory for now." Naruto said, immediately ending all the tension his teammates had. They all lowered the Kunai and put them away.

"Would you people like to come in?" Tsunami asked, "Kaiza will be coming home soon with Inari."

"We'd appreciate that." Kakashi answered as they four of them followed her into the house.

She quickly sat them around a table in the house and quickly made them some tea. "Do you guys want anything to eat while we're in here?" She asked kindly and sat down at the head of the table. Kakashi and Sasuke were on the right side, Naruto and Sakura the left.

"No thanks." Sakura answered, "We'll just wait for our client to come here."

Tsunami watched as they all sat quietly and occasionally took sips of tea. She was surprised that the three children in front of her would be trained to kill people and such at such a young age, it almost made her sick to her stomach. Were they even prepared for this task, whatever it could be?

"Don't worry." Kakashi said, "They look young, but they can easily do anything I can." _Almost, _Kakashi mentally said, _but no need to worry her._

"How'd you know what I was thinking?" She asked, a little nervous to be chatting with a ninja.

Kakashi took a sip of his tea and said, "Your face looked worried, and you were glancing at all my students."

"Ah," She muttered. "They look a little young to be doing this so soon. Shouldn't they be doing things normal children do at their age?"

Sasuke got involved at this point and said; "We decided to do this for ourselves. No higher power told us we had to do this, but with our talent it was highly recommended that we get as strong and skilled as possible, as soon as possible."

"I see." She sighed. Having a chat with ninja was harder than she figured it was. She then saw Sakura's hair and destroyed the atmosphere by asking, "Is your hair naturally that color?"

"Wha- What?" Sakura stuttered, no one, not even tsunami asked that question to her in the last timeline. It was quite a shock to her now.

"I mean," Tsunami continued, "I have seen all kinds of hair colors, but I have never seen anyone with pink hair… Don't you think it would limit your abilities to hide from the enemy or something? You should get that back to its original color or something."

"It's naturally this color." Sakura said, her world was now upside down from all this information, _what the hell! This hair color can't make it harder to stay stealthy!_

Naruto looked at the confusion on Sakura's face and decided to come in and say, "I like it. I think it's cute." He crossed his arms and looked away from Tsunami.

"Well yeah, it does, but ninja don't try to look cute, do they?" Tsunami questioned.

"Just because we're ninja doesn't mean that we can't do anything non-ninja people can do! It only means we can do it better!" Naruto said to her.

Tsunami had lightning cross her vision, "Oh? Better than a non-ninja can?" She grabbed Naruto by his collar and said, "Listen here, boy, just because you're faster, stronger, and probably smarter-."

"He's not." Sasuke said as he took a sip from his tea, enjoying the betrayed look Naruto gave him.

"You cannot do anything better than I can!" She threw Naruto back down and huffed. She walked out of the room saying, "I'm going to make some more tea." She was back to her sweet self, "Do any of you guys want some?"

Everyone just slowly nodded their heads, not wanting her to get angry.

"Do you think my hair looks cute Naruto, or were you just saying that?" Sakura asked a slight blush on her face.

"It looks great!" Naruto said and patted her on the back, "It's really cute. It's like-"

As he continued on Kakashi and Sasuke glanced at each other, then back to Naruto with slight envy in their eyes. _Damn that boy, _Kakashi thought as he watched the two flirt with each other.

Kakashi's thoughts wandered somewhere else, back to Tsunami. _She was able to get them out of their professional stance and mood by mentioning Sakura's hair, _He looked at the two; _I'll have to teach them not to get out of the mood no matter what. _Kakashi let out a small laugh, his revenge was planned.

"Ok." Sasuke said after a few moments of silence. "I'm going to scout along the area and make sure no one that can be claimed as an enemy makes it within shouting distance." He looked towards Kakashi, who shook his head, allowing the boy to do as he pleased.

Tsunami entered right as Sasuke left. Noticing one less member, she was about to ask where the boy went, but knew that it had to be official ninja business. She had learned for her parents to never attempt to anger, or question them, some could be quite harmful. However, she felt somewhat secure around these ones.

She put the tea down on the table and sat back down again, not at all enjoying the silence that once more loomed around the room.

(Outside the building)

Sasuke wandered to the edge of the forest surrounding the house and quickly glanced back at the building before he entered. He slowly walked along, not minding at all if an enemy came out, in fact, he'd be glad if someone popped up right now, he'd love to test his strength.

_Of course, Naruto is going to become stronger than me again this time as well, but at least I'm advancing at a much quicker pace this time around._ He glanced up and looked around. He heard a small sound coming from a nearby bush.

He quickly drew a kunai, and only sighed when a rabbit appeared; its brown fur was coated with fresh mud. _Hm, must have got stuck in some mud. _He simply shook it off and continued to patrol the area.

He saw a patch of sunlight beaming down into the woods, and decided to climb a tree to get a better view of the area from up there. When he reached the top, he noted that he could see most, if not the entire village from here, and he saw the spot where the Great Naruto Bridge used to be.

_That looks really odd without it. _He thought to himself as he allowed himself to fall back down to the ground. He twisted in mid air and landed on his chakra enhanced feet, which was meant to deal with the impact, and continued to patrol the forest.

He had decided to take a visit into the village to get an idea of the layout of the area. As he entered, he couldn't hide his surprise, the village was actually not in a state of poverty. He shook the thought out of his head, _Of course it isn't, Gatou hasn't gained full control of the economy._

Again he climbed up a tree to get a better look of the village he was bordering.

"Hey! Kid, what the hell are you doing all the way up there?" Sasuke nearly fell out of the tree in shock for a moment, before he looked all the way down to the ground.

"How'd you see me all the way up here?" Sasuke shouted down, even though he couldn't see the person, he knew they had to be down there, below all the branches and such.

Sasuke heard laughing next to him, and nearly, once more, fell down in shock and slight fear. "What the hell!" He shouted, he quickly regained his composure, and grabbed onto the tree before he fell again.

"Be careful kid." He looked at the child's headband and said, "Oh," His eyes hardened, and he looked down, seriousness covering his face, "You're from Konoha."

Sasuke nodded, "Yes. That's all I can say however, we can only explain things to our client and who else he wishes to know."

"Start explaining why they sent a child to help with this?" The man looked slightly angry.

"Sorry, I can only explain to a man named Kaiza."

The man smiled slightly, "What if I tell you, I am Kaiza?"

Sasuke examined the man closely; he wore a normal brownish colored vest with no shirt under it, and long dark green colored pants. His eyes were a kind of shade of blue that Sasuke believe only Naruto had. His hair was rough, and he looked as though he needed to shave.

"Kaiza?" Sasuke asked in surprise, "You're a ninja too?"

The man nodded, "Well, kind of," He admitted, "I quit shortly after becoming a Genin, but I did manage to learn how to use my chakra to walk on trees. That's why I love being in this place so much; there are so many trees to climb on, and you're in my favorite spot."

"R- Really?" He had not known that Kaiza was a ninja, "Have you told Tsunami?"

Kaiza nodded, "yeah, she and Inari know it."

"Did you say my name?" Someone from below shouted, "Can I come up with you now Kaiza?"

Kaiza looked down and smiled sheepishly, "Oh yeah, I usually take Inari up here with me sometimes. I guess when I noticed someone was up here I told him to wait down there while I look." His smile faded, "Tell me, how many of you are here?"

"A group of Chunin, and an ANBU captain, I think you'll know him, Kakashi." Sasuke smirked as Kaiza shoot a look of surprised at the name of Kakashi. "Now bring him up here, I'd like to meet your child." _Again. _He added in his mind.

Kaiza nodded and worked his way back down to the ground and brought up the kid within a minute. Sasuke looked at the kid and had to force himself not to give off a look of surprise at the happiness Inari was showing in his expression.

Inari still wore the hat he had in the previous timeline, but he was trying to be like Kaiza, for he wore a vest of the same color of Kaiza, and pants. He looked at Sasuke in surprise and asked, "How did he get up here?"

"He's like me." Kaiza simply explained.

Inari looked at Sasuke in wonder, "Whoa! Does that mean he can walk on trees like you? Can he teach me to do it? Where's he from? Is he staying with us?" Inari asked in his volley of questions.

Kaiza looked thoughtful before saying, "Yes, No, Konoha, and Yes."

Inari looked down, sadness evident in his expression now, "Why won't you let anyone teach me to be like you?"

"Because you can fall down and get hurt, he's been trained in this, and I've done it several hundred times before this. Once you're older I will consider teaching you this technique." Kaiza offered, Inari sighed and nodded his head enthusiastically, and he looked back down at the town in their view.

Sasuke looked at Kaiza and watched as the man mouthed at him, 'we'll go home soon.' Sasuke nodded, and took the time to appreciate the view of the town he was watching.

(Tsunami's house.)

"Three of a kind!" Naruto shouted, knowing he was the victorious one.

Sakura gave him a sympathetic smile and put down her cards, "Full house!" She could see the look of despair Naruto was giving her.

"How are you winning so easily? I thought I was lucky with these kinds of things! That is why Jiraiya always let me gamble when I was with him!" Naruto sighed, and took off his shirt and threw it on the couch next to them.

"Maybe it's just rubbing off on me, you know I have been close enough for it to happen." She said smiling.

They both were in the living room of the household, on the floor playing poker with each other. The room was nicely made compared to other parts of the house, it had a rather fireplace, several windows allowing the sun in, and various other miscellaneous things.

Kakashi walked in reading his book, but before he left the room he lowered his book and asked, "What are you two doing now?"

Naruto grudgingly looked up in his half naked state, "Strip poker," He sighed, "Lost three times so far."

Kakashi looked towards the couch where Naruto's discarded shirt, socks, and sandals were. He noticed Sakura had the decency to blush slightly. "You two, uh, aren't you a bit young for this?"

"We're really eighteen years old." Naruto reminded him, "Don't worry about it, it's not like we'll do anything."

"Yeah," Sakura added, "Our hormones haven't kicked in yet, so you're safe for a few more years."

Kakashi wanted to ask them why they were playing strip poker of all things if that was the case, but he knew it was a lost cause. He would be mentally disturbed about this for the coming weeks. He looked at his book, but almost threw up at the image of Naruto and Sakura playing strip poker at the age of nine.

With Kakashi out of sight, Naruto got onto one knee and claimed, "You're cheating! Every time I manage to get a good hand, you're always one step ahead of me!"

"What? Just because you're losing doesn't mean I HAVE to be cheating!" She threw her hands up, and sighed, but a bunch of cards flew out of the sleeve of her ninja outfit. "Oh!" Sakura looked at all the cards, "What do you know? I was cheating!" She giggled, trying to make it not look like a big deal.

Naruto looked at them and gained a sly grin on his face, "Does this mean that you really lost all the previous games?"

He was rewarded with a punch on the top of his head and his face going through the floor to taste what soil below a household was like. "No way!" She shouted.

"Then what was the point of playing strip poker if I am the only one following the damn rules?" Naruto asked as he managed to get his head out of the floor.

Sakura blushed and looked away, "Well. I guess we're done here right?"

Before Naruto could begin to yell some more, a knock came upon the door. The mood that was recently there changed to one of seriousness as Naruto quickly got his outfit back together, and Sakura grabbed two Kunai out of her pouch, throwing one over to Naruto as he finished getting dressed.

Both advanced towards the door, while Tsunami walked ahead of them ready to answer it. The woman looked through the peephole in her door and threw it open, "You're finally back!" She shouted and gave the man a hug.

"Is it Kaiza?" Naruto asked, looking over her shoulder.

Tsunami moved over allowing the two ninja to see who it was. "It's Tazuna!" Tsunami introduced to them. "Oh yes!" She quickly allowed him into the living room and introduced him with the two children and Kakashi, "There's also one more, but he's outside doing something right now."

The man looked almost exactly how Naruto and Sakura remembered him; he wore a straw hat, and glasses that continued to droop down to his nose. He looked incredibly lazy still, and wore dirty clothes to prove it. They looked as if they were covered in dirt, and he had an ever so slight smell of alcohol around him.

Tazuna nodded, "Well, you all may call me Tazuna, the Super bridge builder. I build all the bridges in this country you see, all the blood and sweat I put into them, I should really become the super leader of this country some day."

Tsunami sighed, "Do you really have to say that all the time?"

"Yes." He replied, "I don't want my reputation to be ruined because some people don't know of me child, even these um, Ninja folks here, should know that."

Kakashi rested his hand on his forehead and rubbed it out of annoyance, "Is Kaiza with you at all?"

Tazuna looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well, you know we did go to town together, but he left with Inari to go off into the woods when we were heading back."

"Really?" Naruto asked, finally happy that they had a lead on where this guy was. "Should we go find him now?"

"Exactly what are you ninja doing here anyways?" Tazuna asked, sounding a little confused.

"We're here to assist a man you may know as, Kaiza." Kakashi answered. Tazuna's eyes widened in temporary shock, and sighed.

He turned to Tsunami, "Make sure that idiot of yours doesn't get into trouble with this Gatou character, I saw him in town, preaching to the people that he'd make our economy skyrocket; of course I don't believe the fool. He's untrustworthy."

"Why's that?" Tsunami asked.

"His eyes - You can see the greed and all the bad deeds he's done in the past." He looked down and stuffed his hand into his back pocket, and quickly produced a bottle, which everyone assumed was full of alcohol. "Well, any of you guys care for a drink?"

Naruto and Sakura shook their heads. Kakashi held out his tea glass from earlier and said, "Please, to the rim."

Tazuna smiled and filled it up, "I think I could get to like you!"

"Yep!" Everyone could tell Kakashi was smiling behind his mask. _Anything to get rid of these mental images! _He cried out within his mind.

"Kakashi-sensei! Drinking during a mission is prohibited! It's one of the most basic rules in the book!" Sakura shouted at the man.

Naruto glanced at her, "You know, you're probably the only person who even reads the books."

Tsunami quickly defused the situation, "Not now people. No drinking within my household when we have guest, especially when most of the guest are children below the age of ten!" She grabbed the bottle of alcohol and hid it from Tazuna's view, which made the man fall to the ground screaming about random things, and most of the ninja in the room thinking he was completely insane.

Before things could proceed in this direction, there was once more a knock on the door. Tazuna got up and walked to it. Only Kakashi got up to follow the man as he opened the door.

When the door opened three men stood out there, all having an equally evil grin on their face, and they all had their hands gripped on their Katana. "We're here for Kaiza. Is he home?" The one in front of the other two asked.

The one in front was obviously the smallest, he had on a winter hat that covered most of his hair besides a few brown specs that got through, and he wore really baggy clothing. The one on the man's left was much taller, and wore no shirt and had very little hair, his pants had all kinds of knifes and swords attached to it. The last man was the most normal looking, he wore glasses and gave Tazuna a sympathetic smile, his green eyes reflecting kindness, he was easily the opposite of his two companions.

"No, goodbye." Tazuna said suddenly very sober.

Before the door was able to close, the tallest of the men reached his arm forward and grabbed the edge of the door and held it open again, "Then don't mind as we come in and wait."

The three walked in, and followed Tazuna as he led them to the kitchen away from the living room where the rest of the people were. He didn't want these three, who he was sure were working for Gatou, to know that Konoha was helping them.

Kakashi had made several signs with his hands to Naruto and Sakura, they all used a quick jutsu to become camouflaged with the scenery, and they spied on the conversation. Tsunami walked in with Tazuna with their newly acquired guest.

"What do you need with Kaiza?" Tsunami asked, wary of the swords they all had.

"Gatou just wants to do some business with him. That's all." The smallest of the three said, not diminishing the threatening pose they all stood in.

"We promise, we're not here to do any harm." The man with glasses said kindly, "Gatou isn't the kind to do those kinds of horrible things."

Tsunami feeling the most relaxed near him, stayed by his side. If she could, she would run out and get away from here, but two factors stopped her from doing so. First of all, it would make the men suspicious, and secondly, she had three ninja nearby who would assist her and Tazuna if needed.

"Well," Tazuna looked around unsure if to say this, "Would you fellows like something to drink?"

(Far from the household, in the forest)

It was about five or six in the afternoon now, the sun was still up in the sky, but the light it was emitting wasn't near as strong it was just a few hours ago. The three were still up in the trees, simply chatting about random things, and finally they decided it was time to go.

"We should head back now, Tazuna should be there." Kaiza said as he slowly began to his climb down the tree with Inari clinging onto him.

Sasuke nodded and followed the man on his way down.

"Lead the way." Sasuke motioned with his hands forward. Inari quickly ran forth, not bothering to look back at the other two, but he knew to keep in sight of Kaiza, so he'd be spared from Tsunami's wrath.

Sasuke and Kaiza walked side by side. It was quite an odd sight. The child wore black clothes, and stood up to Kaiza's waist, but walked as though he had seen many hardships in his young life, which was only partly true.

Kaiza noted this, but decided not to say anything to the child. "So, Sasuke was it?"

"Yes." Sasuke replied, not saying anything more.

"You do know what the mission I assigned for you to do was, right?" Kaiza asked uncertainly.

Sasuke sighed, "Listen. I look young, but I have signed up to do this kind of thing. My squad, which mostly is my age besides our sensei, knows what we're here to do. We're going to be killing a future tyrant of this country, someone who'd use the economy for only his benefits, and will do anything to quell any signs of rebellion."

"You're much wiser than you look." Kaiza noted. Sasuke nodded.

"I get that a lot." _Since I have come back, _He mentally noted. _I wonder if we're being too open with our intellect. It's a topic I'll have to keep in mind;_ Sasuke continued to think to himself.

Suddenly Sasuke heard a rush of leaves behind him. He looked at Kaiza who also noticed it. "Tell Inari to go ahead." Sasuke whispered.

Kaiza nodded and shouted, "Inari! Go ahead and tell Tsunami that we're coming home! I'm sure she's very worried right now!"

Inari looked over and smiled, "Ok, see you there Kaiza!" He then ran ahead without any other protest at all. Sasuke grabbed a Kunai out and continued walking as he quickly flipped it upside down and had the blade hidden from view of the enemy.

"Who's there?" Kaiza shouted out, his voice still strong, not at all faltered when a large group of people walked out of the forest surrounding them. _They can conceal their numbers well,_ Kaiza noted quickly.

Sasuke looked around, and quickly looked back at Kaiza. "If you're going to try to fight us, at least say something first."

One of the men walked forth, "Kaiza, leave your kid Inari here and come with us."

Sasuke smirked, so they thought he was Inari? They must have not seen the child run away as they closed in and assumed that he was the child. _This can be used to our advantage. _

"What? What do you want with me?" Kaiza said. His chain of thought was close to Sasuke's, as he kneeled down and held his hands over Sasuke like a protective parent would do.

One of the multiple men came out of hiding and said, "Don't worry; we'll take real good care of your child there. You just come with us to see Gatou, and all will go like it normally is."

"Gatou is a tyrant, no way am I going to go to him. He'll have to come to me so I can kick his ass!" Kaiza said getting up off the ground, after realizing what he said wasn't such a wise idea, he quickly got ready to fight. "I need to learn to keep my mouth closed."

Sasuke stood still looking around the area. _Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen…_ "Kaiza." Sasuke got the attention of the man, "I'm counting fourteen of them. I don't know how strong they are, but they shouldn't be too bad. _If my memory serves me correctly, _He thought.

"That's too many," Kaiza said, his will faltering slightly.

Sasuke walked forward and called out, "Please, take me instead! I don't want you to hurt him!" He tried to act as Inari would, but couldn't bring enough emotion into it. The enemy, however, bought it.

"Oh? That might be good." One of them called out.

"No! Our mission was to take Kaiza! Not the damn brat he hangs out with all the time!"

"Get the man!"

"Yeah!"

Sasuke sighed, this wasn't going to work. "Okay, can I perform one trick for all of you?" He shouted, not waiting a single second, he put his hands together and focused as much of his chakra into them as he could, once he got enough, it exploded outward, sending a shockwave hopefully far enough so his partners could sense it and come to his aid.

"What?" One of the men shouted, "That kid! He's a ninja!"

"I hear Gatou has a large bounty on them!" several charged at the kid, not even wondering why a ninja was with Kaiza or what village he was from.

Sasuke quickly rolled away from Kaiza, being sure the fighting was a decent bit away from the man. Once he got up, and quickly formed the several seals he has always loved to perform, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He shouted and blew fire towards the on coming enemy.

Most got out of the way, but one was caught in it and was burning, probably to death. He quickly got his hidden Kunai and threw it at the nearly guy, piercing right through his upper arm, causing him to drop his sword and run away in fear.

The others saw the display, but didn't falter in their advance.

One of the larger men grabbed a katana and shouted to the others, "Get Kaiza, I'll get this kid!" The man suddenly pulled out another katana duel wielding them.

Sasuke looked at the large man, betraying no emotion on his face, _I hope help comes soon. _He thought as the man charged at him.

He closed his eyes and brought up a certain amount of chakra to them. He continued to focus until he felt the familiar power he loved to use so much. He reopened his eyes, and a grin came to his face as his sharingan was shown, It only had two dots, but it would evolve, the burning sensation they brought to him only months ago was gone.

"Ready?" Sasuke asked getting into his fighting stance.

The man paid no heed to the red eyes, figuring it was only a technique meant to intimidate him. "Ha, poor child, I'll cut off your head and give it to Gatou."

With that they both ran at each other. The man swung one of his two swords down and fast and hard as he could right where Sasuke was standing, Sasuke easily managed to dodge it, for he could see it slowed down, and was fast enough to get out of the way with all the training he had done. When the blade hit the ground, it sent dirt and grass in all directions in a small explosion.

"Where'd that damn brat go?" He looked around, astonished that the kid got out of the path of his sword.

"Up here!" The man looked up and saw Sasuke hanging upside down from a branch. He jumped down and tried to punch the man right in the face, but the other blade came in a sweeping motion, nearly hitting him. Sasuke barely managed to twist in the air to dodge it and hit the ground.

He then pulled out two Kunai and some string from his pouch. _I haven't used this in a long time, _He threw both Kunai at the man, who easily dodged both of them.

"Ha! At this rate, I'll kill you!" The man shouted, but was taken aback when suddenly he flew backwards and was pinned against the tree right behind him.

Sasuke had thrown more than two kunai, but the others were hidden below the other two, within the shadow of the original ones. With that he managed to tie the strings on all of them and tangle the man into the mess he was currently in.

Sasuke quickly began to make seals for the same technique earlier. _Good-bye! _He mentally said as he finished the seals and blew fire at the man, burning him to a crisp. The scream echoed throughout the forest, and he was sure that the town must have heard that one.

"Kaiza!" Sasuke shouted as he turned to see he was tied up, and wounded slightly. He noticed three downed men however; at least Kaiza didn't go down without a fight. Sasuke ran over towards him, and kicked the man tying the last knot on the ropes.

"Damn! That brat killed Koga! He was one of our best guys!" One of the many shouted, and Sasuke prepared for the fight.

Suddenly he twisted around and stopped a katana from nearly decapitating him. It hit his wrist guard and he quickly ran forth and kicked the man away.

Suddenly a hand came up from the ground and pulled him under until only his head was showing. "What the?!" He shouted as he went under.

Kaiza shot him a worried glance as a man came up from under the ground. A slash was on his headband, making him an automatic missing-nin. His headband protector showed that he was from the mist village. "So, this is the brat that was causing so much trouble? Heh, you all should just die and be over with it if he was doing so much damage to you all."

He wore a sleeveless black shirt, and a mask portraying a bull. He was well built, and had two short blades on his back. His pants were the same back color as his shirt, and had multiple pockets. From one of them he produced an explosive tag.

"You know what this is, right kid?" He noticed his headband, "Someone from Konoha eh? Of course you know what it is then. Too bad you'll have to die at such a young age." He kneeled down, and was about to post it on Sasuke's head when a kunai flew by and pinned the note several yards away on a tree.

"Who's there?" The missing-nin shouted out. Suddenly two people dropped from the trees. Both wore black, one had blonde hair while the other hair pink.

Sasuke sighed in relief, "You guys! You definitely took long enough!"

"Sorry Sasuke! We had some visitors at base we had to take care of as well!" Sakura said apologetically.

"Aw, Sasuke, you couldn't handle this many by yourself?" Naruto mocked, but became serious again, "What rank would you put all of them at?"

Sasuke analyzed the situation in his head quickly, "All of them are at least Genin rank in skill besides this guy!" He nodded his head towards the one near by, He is probably lower Jounin rank, besides that, this should be easy for both of you!"

Sakura smiled and grabbed some gloves out of her kunai pouch. "This will allow us to test where our skill lies right now."

Naruto nodded and cracked his knuckles, "Yep."

Both ran at the crowd who was not prepared for the maneuver. Naruto quickly dispatched several people quickly by jumping in the air right below the sun, so it blinded the enemy when they looked up, at that moment; he quickly threw kunai at their necks ending their lives quickly.

Sakura took a much more physical approach. She ran at them, making them all laugh. "You think a little girl like you can do anything?!" One shouted, but he was silenced when a powered punch from Sakura hit him directly in the neck, making him see black instantly. She twisted around and kicked another man in the face, probably ending his life, and turned once more and punched another person's blade in two.

Naruto landed right next to her and sighed, "I thought this would help us gain skill."

"Yeah." Sakura sighed, "Anyway, now it's just him." She pointed at the missing-nin.

One could tell he glared at her as he said, "What! I still have a few men with me!" He glanced at both sides and noticed the remaining people living were running for their lives. "You cowards!" He shouted at them. When they continued to run he threw shuriken at them, killing them off quickly.

"You'd kill your own allies because they're smarter than you?" Naruto asked, "You probably deserve to die since you want to fight us now."

The missing-nin grabbed Kaiza by his collar and laughed, "Heh, who said I would play fair?" he forced the man up and put one of his short swords at his throat, "Now go or Kaiza will die!"

"That's Kaiza?" Naruto said shock evident in his voice. Sakura and Naruto both were on guard, but lowered it when they found no way to counter this.

"Good!" The missing-nin said, suddenly he felt himself being stabbed from the back; Naruto stood there, a cold glare on his face. The Naruto lowering his guard in front of the man puffed into smoke. Not longer than a few seconds passed when the man Naruto stabbed suddenly poofed, and a log replaced his body.

Naruto was about to say something when he suddenly felt a blade go through him from behind, "Naruto!" Sakura shouted out of shock. The expression Naruto had on was full of pain as blood slowly made its way out of his mouth.

"There we go!" The missing-nin said, and pulled his blade out, but that instant Naruto turned to smoke and he felt his neck being sliced open by the real Naruto.

"If you're wondering," Naruto said, "It's Kage Bunshin." The missing-nin fell to the ground attempting to gasp for breath, while Sakura went and untied Kaiza and both of them got Sasuke out of the ground. Afterwards, all of them stood above the missing-nin.

His head motioned towards Naruto and said, "You know…" He coughed, "Gatou will hire stronger ninja when I get this report to him."

"What? You're going to die right here." Naruto shook his head, "You shouldn't resist, you'll die faster."

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and said, "Naruto. Don't waste your breath. This one is a Kage bunshin as well." Suddenly the man smiled and puffed into smoke.

"Damn! He's going to let Gatou know that we're here to kill him!" Sakura shouted, she looked at all around and made sure that he was not in their area. "We have to get to base now."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded, and picked Kaiza off the ground and helped him walk slightly.

"You children, do you have no regret for killing?"

Naruto looked down, "In the life of a ninja, you must never show your feelings in or out of battle. But I'm not like others." He looked up, "Yes, I admit that I regret killing people, but I always think that since I killed them, they won't kill other people, so by doing this, I am actually saving people."

Sakura nodded to his logic, "And when they are going to kill an ally, you will kill them to make sure the rest of the team lives."

With that they walked home. Kaiza noted the look of guilt barely evident on Naruto and Sakura's faces, and the lack of it on Sasuke's. He'd have to tell Inari not to get close to these children.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Some new dialogue added to the part where Naruto and Sakura are playing poker.

-A lot of cussing cut out, and I think this is the first chapter where someone told me kun did NOT equal the same thing as chan, because I never came across it! Anyway, Grammar changes occurred as well.

Oddly enough I probably changed the least things about this chapter than the rest. Sure I reworded a few parts so they made sense, but otherwise I found it to be a very entertaining read. I am actually kind of shocked that I wrote that fight scene involving Sasuke, I was really into it while I was editing this! Haha. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this!


	6. It's all Business, Nothing more

REWRITTEN

(Tsunami's household.)

"God damn you traitor!" Shouted the smallest of the men who were to come and take away Kaiza. He was in the kitchen of the house tied to an unconscious large man. The final of the three just leaned against the counter and gave them a sympathetic look.

"Sorry, I just feel that Gatou is going to ruin the country if we help him." He said, pushing his glasses up.

The man tied up laughed, "You've never worked for Gatou then, he tries to gain the wealth of the economy and use it for himself." Greed was evident on his face; "He shares this with all of us! Hell, since I have been working for him, getting food has never been a problem. Just a murder here and there is all it takes!"

A Kunai appeared right next to his neck, "Oh really. I think you wouldn't mind leading us to his hideout, would you?" Kakashi asked, glaring at the man.

"Screw you! If you were sent for-." Kakashi quickly hit him against the neck, knocking him out instantly.

He looked up at the one wearing glasses and stated, "If you're really helping for our cause, I am guessing you wouldn't mind leading us to his base of operations?"

"I wouldn't mind. You can call me Nikku by the way." He readjusted his black coat, attempting to look somewhat formal in front of someone so powerful.

Kakashi nodded, "Well since we have our lead, we just need to wait for my three students to get here with our client."

Tsunami and Tazuna were both in the living room, trying to avoid as much of this as possible. They did not want to be involved in something large that could possibly cause them their lives.

"Is anyone home?" A young voice shouted from the entrance from the house.

Tsunami instantly got up, "That's Inari!" She quickly ran her way and hugged the child when he came into view. She held him tightly, and then asked, "Is Kaiza with you?"

"No," He said, "He told me to go ahead of him. He was with this really weird kid that was a ninja like him who could climb trees and do all kinds of neat tricks!"

"That must be Sasuke." Kakashi said as he came in, "He went to scout around the area so he could get to know the terrain. I guess he ran into Kaiza while he was doing it."

Tsunami kneeled down to the child and asked, "Is there a reason he told you to go ahead of him Inari?"

"Not that I know of," Seeing the worry in her face he quickly began to realize something bad must of happened, "What is going on? Is he hurt?"

"Nope!" Another voice said, coming in from outside. Kaiza walked in looking in pretty good shape, besides the scratch marks and small bruises from the fight he had been in. "I'm fine. I wouldn't be if it weren't for these kids though." He pointed him thumb back towards the children behind him.

"Hey!" Naruto said giving a short wave, a grin pasted on his face.

"No problem." Sakura gave him a kind smile.

Sasuke simply grunted in response.

Kakashi nodded, "That's good. I am glad we were able to save you in a fast manner."

Once everyone was done greeting each other, Kakashi pulled aside Kaiza, Nikku, and his three students outside to begin to discuss the mission at hand. They wandered quite a little way from the house, so the family would not hear anything that was to be said.

"Sakura, put up a jutsu so no sounds will leave within this area, then put up a genjutsu so no one will be able to see us here." Kakashi ordered.

Sakura didn't question him at all – now was not the time to act her physical age. She knew that the situation at hand had just become much more serious than it had been that entire day.

"Kaiza, I understand from your mission that you want us to lead an assassination on a man called Gatou. This is easily within our reach, but we needed to converse with you before the mission began, and we needed a lead to where he was actually located. We have the lead, so all we need to do is gain details from you." Kakashi explained.

Kaiza nodded showing his understand of the situation, "I see. You have the mission correct." He looked down, a look of dismay on his face, "I don't usually use murder to get things on the better path, but this seems to be the only way to save this country. I haven't killed anyone since-"

His eyes got a far off look.

"Kaiza?" Naruto asked, quickly snapping the man out of it.

"Let's just say It's the reason I am not a ninja anymore…"

Everyone nodded, noting that he didn't want to discuss it further.

"Well." Sasuke sighed, "When we were attacked by Gatou's men, most of them were easily genin level thugs. Naruto, Sakura, and I were able to take out all of them. Only one managed to escape, and it's because of this that getting into Gatou's base will not be as easy as originally planned. He happened to be the strongest of all the guys, so if Gatou sees him crawling back, he'll definitely hire some much more powerful people to do work for him."

"That may prove to be quite the problem." Kakashi sighed.

(Gatou's base)

A fair distance from the village Gatou was planning to take out was a large building. It was about eleven stories tall, and was surrounded by many people working for the man inside. It was recently built, so security had to be tight around it. There was no wall or gate surrounding it, and most of the floors had not been outfitted yet.

Out of all the floors, Gatou resided on the top. A large window was in front of him so he could see the whole country. There was a large chair against the wall opposite of the window, and another door in the room leading to his grand bedroom. The room was decorated with many things that people would die for. Only three men resided in the room with him, his two bodyguards on either side of the chair, and one guarding the only door leading into the room.

Suddenly the door was roughly opened, and the ninja from the forest fighting the three children barged in.

"Gatou sir…" He walked over and kneeled in front of the chair where Gatou sat.

Gatou was a short man, but the ninja in front of him learned not to underestimate people smaller than him. Gatou also wore a black business suit, and some fancy looking glasses. He held a cane in one hand, and had a very displeased look on his face.

"Why is Kaiza not with you?" Gatou asked immediately.

"He hired protection it seems." The man coughed, "he knew you were going to try to kill him, I think he wants you to be the one to go down."

Gatou nodded, processing the information, "I figured the man would do this. Who are his protectors?"

"They were really powerful ninja, if they could even beat me-"

"I asked WHO THEY ARE!" Gatou repeated, definitely not in a joking mood.

The ninja looked down, "Three children, all of them were easily high chunin or low jounin rank. They took out my whole force within minutes."

"It looks like we'll have to up our defenses." Gatou mused, he looked down at the ninja and spat, "Did I say we'll? I meant to say me and the new leader of my forces."

"What!?" The man shot up from the ground, but was hit against the wall from a different force, he felt himself losing consciousness. "Who is this?"

Gatou smiled, "Your death."

The new comer quickly swung his large sword down upon the man, ending his life that moment. Once he pull the sword out he asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, Kisame, I believe our friends will attack tonight, figuring they know that I know they're here now. You need to be up here with me, and if by chance, these three kids break through my forces, they'll die when they get in here to face my guards and you."

Kisame looked up, his shark like teeth curved into a sadistic smile, "Sounds like fun."

"After this assignment, you can head off to join that organization you wanted to go to." Gatou said, waving his hand in dismissal.

"Yes. This will be the last easy mission I take before I join Akatsuki." Kisame said as he looked out across the land.

(Forest near Tsunami's house)

"Nikku. Please, tell us the layout of the base of Gatou." Kakashi asked, giving the man a kunai and kneeling down towards a patch of dirt. Nikku got the idea quickly.

"Well," He kneeled down and began to draw a map, "The building was just recently completed, and he hasn't had time to build any defenses outside of it luckily. Unfortunately, to make up for that he has many people surrounding the area of the building. Again though, he does send most of his new recruits to do this. His men will get tougher and tougher as you advance further up in the building."

"Coward." Naruto sighed, anger easily detectable in his voice.

Sakura quickly grabbed his hand, calming him down. He gave her a small grin before returning to the conversation.

"Anyway, the building is eleven stories tall, and I know he is on the top of the place. I think if I took you guys there, I could convince the new recruits outside that you work for us, but after that the more veteran people will notice something, and we'll have to fight our way up." Nikku concluded.

Sakura grabbed the kunai, "from the looks of it, we could easily climb the building and get to the top without fighting many of the guards, but that could pose only one problem. If we're spotted we'll have a lot of people waiting for us at the top, if we simply fought from the bottom up we could wipe out a floor before another is warned of the danger. However, the floors could have video cameras in them."

"The place was recently built," Naruto popped in, "If I remember Gatou at all, I know he cares more about his luxuries before the men working for him. He probably hasn't set up a decent security system yet."

Kaiza looked up from the map, "You know this guy?"

"You could say that." Naruto said, he shook his head before certain memories could enter it.

"Classified information." Sasuke decided to say.

Kakashi sighed, "Attacking tomorrow morning would be the best for us, considering Gatou wouldn't expect it at all."

"No." Sakura simply said, "If we don't attack tonight he'll send people to come out at us. By then they'll be organized and may actually pose as a problem for us. Tonight however, his men aren't fully alert for us yet, so we can have a somewhat successful surprise attack."

Kakashi wanted to argue with the girl, but knew she was right. "Ok. Kaiza you head home to your family, us five will do this by ourselves."

"No! I want to help." Kaiza said walking up to them, "I made a mistake as a ninja in the past, but tonight if I may become a ninja one last time, I can amend my past action."

Everyone present looked at him, wondering if they should really bring him or not. Finally Sasuke laughed, "If he wants to come fight, I say let him, we need all the help we can get."

"Fine." Naruto agreed quickly.

Knowing Kakashi couldn't argue with them he sighed and said, "Ok. We'll split into two forces. The first group will consist of four. Two of the four will be Kaiza and Nikku. Their objective is to get to the bottom floor and purposely begin fighting upward. This way if word gets out that fighting has occurred, the people will head downward. Group two will consist of two of us, one of them including me. We'll begin climbing up the wall of the building when the fighting has occurred and go to Gatou's room and kill him on the spot."

"Now we just need to split us up." Sakura concluded.

"I'll go up with Kakashi." Sasuke instantly said, "Sakura and Naruto can easily handle the thugs below by themselves without the assistance of us."

Sakura shook her head, "No, it's logical if Naruto goes up with Kakashi. He can fight one opponent one on one easily, but against multiple people he couldn't do it so easily. You could say he can use Kage Bunshin, but in reality he can only send them few worded commands, unless if he's got enough control to give each of them a different one."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto began to protest, "I think I can fight with you easily enough."

"No. I insist that you go up with Kakashi." She still noted his hesitation, so she went over and kissed him on the lips, "For me, please?"

"O- Ok." Naruto nodded, his mind a little dazed.

Everyone nodded and proceeded on, following Nikku for the time being.

"Sakura." Sasuke said sharply glaring at her, "Why'd you do that?" They both were near the back of the group as they walked through the trees of the forest.

"Naruto is more powerful than you," She said giving him a glare of her own, "Of the two of you, I trust Naruto to do the more dangerous part of the mission. Like I said, he's better in those kinds of situations."

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know yet." She admitted looking downcast, "You helped us a lot, but there are all those years when Naruto and I were looking for you. There were times you even came out and fought us so we wouldn't capture you."

"I apologize." Sasuke said immediately.

"I know you do, and I appreciate that, but it just takes time for the wounds to heal. I still find it odd that you switched sides so quickly when before you resisted it all. Did you know that Tsunade was pressured to mark you as a missing-nin? For years it was because of Naruto and I that you were never listed as one, but no matter what we did to try and help you, it didn't matter."

"I switched that moment because I realized my mistake." He simply said.

"Yeah," Sakura said bitterly, "At the very end where it couldn't possibly get worse."

"I killed Itachi, who I just learned at the time was not responsible for killing off my whole clan. The people who were responsible were gaining control of Konoha, and Orochimaru had a short leash on me. It couldn't have gotten any worse for me either."

"I know, just, give it a little bit more time." She said, and attempted to smile at him.

Sasuke could feel anger rising within him, but quickly shot it down. _My friends don't trust me at all. I thought I've made some progress…. _He was about to talk to her some more, but she moved ahead of him to be next to Naruto.

Before Sasuke could brood on the subject any longer, Kaiza slowed his pace so he could stand next to the child for the duration. The sky had considerably darkened, and only in the distance could you see an orange hue in the sky.

"Sasuke," Kaiza began, "I don't believe I have said my thanks for saving me back in the woods."

Sasuke shook his head, "It's my job."

Silence reigned once more, before Kaiza broke it again, "You know, your two teammates remind me of mine. One was an incredibly smart girl, and the other who didn't have care in the world when it comes to danger."

"Oh Really?" Sasuke said, very annoyed and uninterested in what the man next to him was saying. For good measures he quickly shot him a glare, "I'm not in the mood to talk right now."

"Sasuke." Kaiza sighed, "When I was a ninja, just out of the academy, I was a lot like you really, I acted cool and silent. Though, I quickly stopped the act when I had to communicate with my allies."

"Look." Sasuke said a little loudly, "Is there a point in all that you're saying or are you purposely trying to annoy me?"

The on coming silence was awkward for both of them, Sasuke had never really been one to snap at people, but from what he had just heard from Sakura, and now this man here was trying to teach him a life lesson or something, he was just in an incredibly bad mood.

"Just know, Sasuke, never lose the trust of your teammates. On my last mission before I quit being a ninja myself, I was trusted to do an important duty." Kaiza got a far away look in his eyes, "Let's just say, it could have gone much better."

The irony was too horrible for Sasuke to stand, "Heh, too late there." He muttered just below a whisper. He looked up, "Oh, did you happen to leave to join an enemy that you all were fighting, and screw them both over when they believed you were stronger than that?"

"Not exactly," Kaiza sighed, "Are you getting what I am trying to tell you?"

"All too well," Sasuke sighed, "I have a lot of things on the subject I could go on about, but it's all classified information. I could write a two hundred paged report on what to do to earn trust and what not to do. Listen Kaiza; trust me when I say I know exactly how you feel."

The awkwardness of the situation once more returned.

"Guys!" Nikku called from the front, just loud enough so the group could hear it, "We're almost there."

It was true; they all could see the building from where they were standing. Naruto and Kakashi began to walk into the forest, but before Naruto disappeared in them, he gave all his friends thumbs up, "Good luck all of you."

Sasuke simply nodded; still somewhat in a bad mood at what was revealed to him during the time they were walking here. Sakura smiled at him and showed him a peace sign with her hands. Kaiza returned the gesture, and lastly Nikku nodded, in a very serious mood.

"Ok you guys, when I walk you through here, do not act suspicious. That means don't look in wonder at this place, or interact with anyone out here. If they find even one thing wrong with us, they'll report us to Gatou without our knowledge." Nikku explained. Once everyone nodded at him, they proceeded to walk forth towards the building.

Sasuke and Sakura quickly took off their Konoha forehead protectors and stuffed them into their pockets.

Nikku lead them through a dirt path until they were in front of the building, many people were walking around, some even having a drink of alcohol. They saw behind them a group of mercenaries emerge from the forest they were just in.

"You two kids," One of them said, "Why are you here?"

Of course, it must have looked odd to everyone that two nine year olds were going into Gatou's base of all things.

"They both are actually ninja, both trained very well. I'm here to see if Gatou would like to hire them. You know, hire them while they're still young and all." Nikku said shrugging.

"I see…" The guard smiled and asked, "May I see some sort of proof that you're ninja?" He asked both of the children.

Sakura could feel her anger bubbling inside of her, but knew to keep it in check for such an important task they were responsible of doing. She simply looked up and held her hand out in front of her. In it green chakra became visible. Sasuke deciding to help her out grabbed a kunai and made a long but shallow cut along the top of his arm. She quickly swept her hand over his arm and it was all healed.

"Impressive, a healer." He muttered, "I see why Gatou wanted you here now. Go on." He allowed them forth into the building.

Once inside, they saw how there was practically nothing in there. Only several men standing near the door. They looked at the people and threw each other a questioning glance before getting off the wall they were leaning on and grabbing out their katana's.

"Who are you people?" One of the two asked, holding his katana out in front of him.

Sasuke grabbed the same kunai from before and threw it at his arm, the force made the man go against the wall as the kunai pierced right through his arm. When the man dropped his sword and began to scream bloody murder, the other quickly grabbed his radio and yelled into it, "We have intruder! We need assistance at once!"

Kaiza punched the man in the face right when he was finished sending out the transmission to the floors above them.

Sakura grabbed some gloves and put them on, and quickly cracked her neck before saying, "I hope Naruto and Kakashi know when to go."

(Outside Gatou's base)

Both Naruto and Kakashi were within the trees outside the base. They had knocked several people out that had wandered into the forest hearing some noises from them, but otherwise they were bored and doing basically nothing.

"Hey Kakashi," Naruto whispered, "When will we go in?"

Kakashi noticed a lot of men beginning to yell and head inside the place. "I guess that's our cue."

"Heh," Naruto got up, "To think we'll finish this mission within one day of getting here."

Kakashi nodded and went out when the place was clear. Both ran swiftly, in case this was a false alarm, and once they reached the bottom of the building, both hid in the shadows for several minutes before they decided to begin heading up the building.

Both of them ran as quickly as they could to the top, where they saw a large glass window that they could go through. Kakashi made some hand signals to Naruto clearly instructing him to break through the glass when they reach it.

Naruto smiled at the order, and raced up as quickly as his legs could take him, but unfortunately for him, Kakashi was the taller and faster of the two, so he made it to the glass and broke through it first.

"Oh? Who do we have here?" Gatou asked in an amused voice, "Two ninja? How cute, one of them is even a little baby."

Naruto glared at him, but kept his cool, he knew Gatou was only trying to make him screw up and do something stupid. "Gatou." Naruto spoke, "We've come for your head."

"I know." He said as he quickly stood up and yelled, "Now!"

Kakashi heard something above both Naruto and him, so he did the first thing to come to his mind and grabbed Naruto and jumped out of the way. He let go of Naruto and turned to face their new opponent that had arrived. "Is this the guy from earlier Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"No!" Naruto said as his eyes widened towards the new comer.

The man in front of them wore a chest plate made of some metal, and wore a belt holding all kinds of scrolls and explosive material on it. His eyes were simply two small dots on his head it seemed, and his teeth were sharpened. What made him so different from other humans was the fact that he was blue, and had gills on both sides of his face.

"Kisame…" Naruto muttered. His eyes wide from shock.

Kakashi noted Naruto's surprise and was about to charge before Naruto shouted, "STOP!"

"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, "I take it this isn't the guy from before?"

Naruto shook his head, "No! It's worse than that. He's Kisame, a member of Akatsuki!" Kakashi's eyes widened by that revelation, the three children had told him all about Akatsuki, "He focuses mainly on water jutsu's, his sword can drain chakra, and will only allow him to wield it, so don't even try to take it." He swallowed hard, "He easily out powers both of us."

"Naruto," Kakashi whispered, "I'll hold him off, and you try to take Gatou out yourself."

Three men stood in front of Gatou at that moment, as if hearing Kakashi. All of them had a katana in their hands, but unlike the others, they looked much more skilled with the blade, and had determination in their eyes. "You won't get to him." One of the three said.

Naruto glared as he grabbed out two Kunai. "Oh, we'll see about that."

"How'd you know all that about me kid?" Kisame asked, pointing his large sword at Naruto, "Tell me, and I may allow myself to entertain the thought of leaving you alive."

"Screw you." Naruto said and charged at the Gatou, holding out two kunai in front of him. Kisame was about to go intercept him, and Kakashi got in the way and held him off long enough.

Kakashi glared at Kisame, "Your opponent is me." Kakashi lifted the headband hiding his Sharingan, knowing he'd need it in this fight. He threw a kunai right at Kisame who simply sidestepped it, and charged at the man.

Kakashi was about to parry with a kunai, but remembered quickly what Naruto said about the sword, and simply rolled to the side inside of hitting the blade. He began to make some seals and shouted, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A huge fireball roared towards Kisame, destroying the floor right below it as it passed.

Kisame seeing the flame charge at him did hand seals and shouted, "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" It looked as though Kisame suddenly spat out a large dragon made of water to charge straight at the fireball heading towards him. When the two collided, mist filled the room.

"Impossible! How can he do those techniques without any available water?" Kakashi muttered to himself as he looked to the left and right in a quick session, looking for his opponent.

"Only the strongest of ninja can do it." Kisame said from behind Kakashi. Kakashi eyes widened and turned to see a huge sword about to slice him in two. Kakashi quickly brought his kunai in front of it, even though he held it off long enough to get out of the way, he felt some of his chakra being pulled from his body.

Kakashi shakily stood up, "That's a nice weapon you have there," He sighed, "Maybe I can get one like it sometimes."

Meanwhile, Naruto was busy holding off the three guards. They were much tougher than he had first thought. _No wonder Gatou has these guys protecting him. _Naruto thought to himself as he stood in front of them all. He quickly put his hands together and said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three clones of Naruto popped into existence.

Suddenly a mist swept right through them, confusing both Naruto and the swordsmen in front of him. Naruto secretly smiled, _Thank god this came, it will give me the advantage! _

"Here I come!" Naruto's clone shouted, he charged at one of the men and tried to stab him in the face with his kunai, but the man who grinned at the display stabbed his clone. Suddenly he felt a blade go right through his spine, he screamed as he fell down, dying on the floor. "And then there were two." Naruto said.

The last two men got back to back. The only reason their ally fell like that was because they had not seen the real Naruto go through the mist to stab him. They both stood near Gatou, so that Naruto still couldn't get a good hit in at the man.

They braced themselves as they saw the three Narutos in front of them charge at them.

(Several floors below)

Nikku had just sliced through another one of his old comrade when he heard some commotion from the above few floors, out of the corners of his eye he could see Sasuke and Sakura giving him a questioning look, "No clue what that is!" He shouted to them.

Once the room was clear, and it was obvious that no more men were coming down to face them, they all grouped up. "Well, I guess that's all of them here. I don't know if there'll be more further up or not."

"We're on the eighth floor right now, I doubt there's anymore." Sakura said as she looked around at the chaos.

It was impossible to tell exactly how many people were in the room; in fact it was hard to tell who was even alive or dead. The four could hear groaning coming from several people, and could smell blood from all directions, no matter if they put some cloth in front of their nose they would still be able to smell it. Having stains on their clothes probably had something to do with it as well.

"Ok." Sasuke said, "We need to hurry up to help Naruto out."

"This was too easy," Kaiza said shortly, "I mean; didn't these people seem too unskilled to be working here? I don't like Gatou, but even I know he's not a complete idiot."

Sakura nodded, he was definitely right. "Be careful."

Sasuke suddenly turned around and deflected two shuriken with a kunai. "Come out now!" He shouted out, and suddenly two figures materialized seemingly out of nothingness. "I know you guys!"

"Die!" They both shouted. They wore full body armor that covered everything, and both wore mask that had two horns on them. Their hands were covered with huge claws, and they both were connected with a long sharp chain by the hands.

The chain flew towards Sasuke, intending to wrap around him, but he quickly flipped out of it and threw a Kunai at the chain pinning it in the wall, "The memories," He sighed, "Demon brothers, I suggest you run away now while you can still live."

The brothers laughed, and one of them quickly tore the kunai out from their chain, "You think a kid can scare us?"

"We get that a lot." Sakura sighed as she ran at them. "Sasuke!" She shouted turning to him, "Remember that their claws are poisoned, try not to get hit, extracting poison is a lot tougher than healing a scratch!"

The brothers looked at her with surprise, "How the hell did you know tha-." The one speaking could finish for, Sasuke had managed to get in range and kick him in the head sending him flying.

"Bastard!" The other shouted and tried to strike Sasuke several times, but failed. Suddenly the chain picked up, and began to make its way around Sasuke, but Sakura luckily threw two kunai at the brothers making them have to cancel the attack.

"Kaiza! Nikku! You two go up and see if Naruto and Kakashi-sensei need help!" Sakura shouted to them as she punched at one, narrowly missing and making a huge hole in the floor.

Both men nodded at the child, and rushed upstairs to see if they could help.

"And of course, Naruto is of no use again when we fight these two." Sasuke said, chuckling slightly.

"Well," Sakura was going to say, but decided against it, "Yeah." She settled on.

The demon brothers stayed away from the two kids, "Looks like we can't use this chain, it limits our movements."

"Here, let me detach it now." The other said, "Use it to your advantage."

When both brothers went away, one of them began to use the chain like a whip. He lashed it out at Sakura, keeping her strength at bay, "I don't know how a little girl like you can go and do that, but this way you won't be able to get to us!"

Sasuke was attempting to stay away from the claws that the man he was fighting against was using. He couldn't get any hits in because of the speed."Ok bastard!" Sasuke shouted, "I hope you won't regret this!" Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan, and noted it hardly hurt him anymore to keep it activated, but it still was a large chakra drain. _Got to do this quick!_

He was able to see the slowed movement, and when the brother slashed, he ducked right under it and swept the man off his feet, then he quickly jumped up and twisted in the air, slamming his leg right into the mans chest, knocking him out instantly.

Sasuke quickly shut his Sharingan off afterwards, still feeling pretty good.

Sakura was not having a good time; quite frankly, this was beginning to piss her off. The man was using the damn chain as a whip, and she knew it was poison, so she couldn't touch it, and when she almost got close enough he'd just bring the chain right back.

_I am sick of that chain! _Finally when it passed her, instead of jumping away from it to dodge it, she grabbed it with both hands and yanked it, pulling the man right off his feet to her. She could see his shocked face, and smiled slightly. When he got close enough, she punched him right in the face as hard as she could possibly do, and couldn't help but laugh as he flew across the room, and made a huge crater in the wall.

She looked down at her hands and worked quickly. She focused chakra to her hands as fast as possible so the poison couldn't work its way into her body, and watched as it slowly came out of both hands, very slowly. It was slightly painful, but she was used to that by now. When it was all out, she simply shook her hands and got it all over the floor.

"Sasuke," Sakura called, "You doing all right?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yep. Let's head up."

Sakura nodded, and they went up to see the fights occurring.

(Top of Gatou's base)

"You can run now, I won't think any less of you." Naruto said to the last man standing in front of him.

Naruto's last opponent's hands were shaking and his face had lost the determination they held only minutes ago. Both of his allies were dead on the ground around his feet. He collapsed and said, "Please, Don't kill me! I don't want to give my life for Gatou anymore!"

"Coward!" Gatou shouted at the man, but pushed himself further back into his seat as Naruto glared at him.

Naruto shook his head, "Ok, go now, or I'll have to reconsider my decision."

The man wasted no time in running away from the scene. Kaiza and Nikku were surprised to find a man screaming his way down the stairs because of a nine year old, and then they reconsidered their thoughts, if they had been fighting one of the three they knew were here, they'd probably swallow their pride and run as well.

"Naruto!" Kaiza shouted as he ran towards the boy, "It's good to see that you're all right!"

Naruto nodded and walked up to Gatou, he grabbed a kunai and planted it against Gatou's neck and yelled out, "Kisame! I have Gatou's life in my hands right now! Stop fighting Kakashi right now and leave! Gatou will be dead shortly, and it'll be worthless to keep fighting!"

The mist in the room cleared up shortly after, Kisame just smirked, "You think you're so smart, kid?"

Naruto began to curse at what he saw. Kisame held Kakashi by his throat, he could easily crush it and end the ANBU's life, but what fun would that be. "Back away from Gatou, and give Kaiza to me, then I'll spare this miserable life I am holding in my hand."

Naruto glared at the man, but knew that it was pointless. _If only Kakashi could have held out a little longer than this. What am I going to do? _

"We can do this all day kid; I still have a lot of energy to keep me going." Kisame smiled, licking his teeth. "By the way, you think I don't see you?" Kisame turned around and quickly stabbed Nikku right through his torso, making him scream out in pain.

"NIKKU!" Naruto shouted as he was raised into the air. He couldn't do a damn thing either; he could feel some tears leaving his eyes.

Kisame once again smiled, "Hah, don't make this Kakashi guy be the next I kill!"

"If you kill him Gatou goes down…" Naruto said weakly, he truly didn't know if even that would stop Kisame at all.

Gatou smirked at the whole situation, it was perfect, he would be safe, and his only threat would be gone. Of course he'd have to pay Kisame a huge amount of money, but even then, he reckoned a lot of his work force must have died from what he had been hearing, so he'd have enough funds, and with the country under his grasp, he could do anything.

Kisame threw the body of the wounded man out of the window that Naruto had broken in through, "Say goodbye to Nikku!" Kisame shouted and dropped the man outside.

Naruto closed his eyes so he didn't have to see it. He could suddenly feel rage filling up inside of him. He looked up and his normal blue eyes were blood red, "You bastard…" He slowly said, "I'm going to kill you!"

Naruto's hands were shaking uncontrollably, so it forced him to drop the kunai holding Gatou in place, instead he stabbed his arm right through the man, and the hand sent a wave of power straight at Kisame, who quickly jumped out of the way.

"Kid! Damn it! You just killed my money! I just did all of this for nothing then!" He began to squeeze Kakashi's neck and watched as Naruto charged at him, but blinked when he didn't see the child anymore. "What the?" He said as he looked around the room.

He suddenly felt his arm being crushed, and looked over and released Kakashi out of pain and swung his arm violently to get the child to let go of his arm. "Get off me kid!" He shouted as he swung, he then grabbed his sword and shot it at the kid, only to have him disappear again.

Kisame wasn't an S-rank criminal for nothing, so he quickly anticipated Naruto's next attack and deflected it with his sword, "You're good!" He quickly swung Naruto away from him. "Since you've killed my profit, and you'd be a troublesome fight, I think I'll just take my leave now."

"HELL NO!" Naruto shouted and charged at the man again, but went straight through smoke as Kisame left, he could almost hear a mocking laugh within his mind and it cause him to scream, "DAMN YOU KISAME! I'LL KILL YOU!"

He slammed his fist into the floor, and screamed as loud as he could, which was scaring the hell out of Kaiza, who stood with his back against the wall. He could never in his life, say he had heard such a demonic sound as this one.

Suddenly Sasuke and Sakura came into the room, both of them were in defensive stance, for they had heard the sound as well, but were surprised when all they saw was a screaming Naruto using Kyuubi's power. Sakura rushed towards the boy as fast as she and embraced him.

"Naruto!" She said, "It's all right!" She continued to whisper such messages into his ears until he completely stopped using the power of Kyuubi, and calmed down completely.

Sasuke looked around the room, what was once a nice looking place was completely torn up. The floor boards were completely destroyed, the window was shattered, blood splattered the ground, expensive stuff was all over the ground in ruins, it was all destroyed, and lastly a dead Gatou sat in his seat of power. _Such a fitting ending. _Sasuke thought as he looked at the figure.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked Kaiza.

Kaiza looked at the damaged and replied, "Well, Naruto had Gatou by the throat, ready to kill him, and the other ninja had Kakashi by the throat, suddenly Nikku tried to kill the guy, but he was stabbed and thrown out the window." Kaiza looked down, "And Naruto got mad, as you can see, and tried to kill the guy, but he was so strong that he got away when he knew Gatou was dead, and here we are."

"Nikku's dead?" Sasuke muttered, "That guy couldn't have killed Nikku! I mean, sure he was an okay ninja, but I could have easily killed him!" Sasuke shouted.

Kaiza shook his head, "No… it was a different guy."

"Who?" Sasuke asked, "If it was someone who was powerful to beat Naruto.." _In kyuubi state of all things. _

"Naruto yelled out Kisame at the end, so that's my best guess." Kaiza muttered.

Sasuke's eyes widened at their revelation, "Kisame?" _Does that mean Itachi is here as well?! _Sasuke marched straight to Naruto and calmly asked, "Naruto. Is it true that Kisame did all of this?"

Naruto shook his head, "Y- yeah…" He said from Sakura's grasp, still exhausted from all that had happened, "It was unexpected, I didn't think Gatou would go to such lengths to protect himself. Is Kakashi ok?" He asked, letting go of Sakura, and slowly getting up.

Sakura ran to Kakashi, mentally hitting herself for letting her emotions get in the way of duty and examined Kakashi. "He's good." She sighed, "He's suffering chakra exhaustion though, and will have to be in bed for about a week."

"As expected from someone of Akatsuki." Naruto sighed.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto and turned him around to face himself, "Naruto, answer this." Naruto nodded, "Was Itachi with him at all?"

Naruto shook his head negatively, "No. Actually, he wasn't even wearing his Akatsuki clothes; I think we're simply a couple of months away of Kisame joining Akatsuki." Naruto groaned, "I wish I could have stopped him, but I just didn't have enough strength! Unless if I relied on…" Sakura and Sasuke shook their heads, understanding what Naruto was going to say.

"We should get out of here." Sasuke said finally, "I'll carry Kakashi."

Kaiza walked up and picked Kakashi up and swung him on his shoulders, "No worry, I'll carry him."

Sasuke nodded as they made their way out of the building. Countless corpses filled it, and out of them all, only one was taken out.

"I'm sorry, Nikku…" Naruto said, as he carried him away from the ruins.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Got rid of the ridiculous notion of Sakura's original accusation, and made it something far more sane, and something that makes sense.

-Spelling errors, and other Grammar mistakes fixed.


	7. For Love and Family

REWRITTEN

(On the Outskirts of the Wave village)

"Just one more." Naruto muttered as he picked up a rather large rock and heaved it over to the pile he and his team, minus Kakashi, had made. In front of the pile was freshly patted dirt, for a body had just been buried there. There was a strong wind going by that day, and the clouds were gray and dreary, as if to compliment the scene going on below them.

Finally, Sasuke grabbed the katana of the fallen man, and stuck it into the pile of rocks, making sure to stab through several of the larger ones to insure that it would stay there for the rest of its lifetime.

The three ninja stood in front of the grave, not daring to say a word. The man, Nikku, had fought with his life to help them achieve their goal, when he could have left whenever he felt fit. Instead, he fought to the end, only to fight someone much better than him in both skill, and size.

"I'm sorry." Naruto finally spoke, "Nikku, if I had known Kisame was there, this wouldn't have happened."

"Naruto, don't blame yourself," Sakura mumbled, "It was unexpected."

Naruto shook his head, "No. I wanted to change this timeline so we could save lives! You know how many people we probably killed last night Sakura? You know how many of them probably had families, and we tore them away from their loved ones because of one man."

"They were thugs. They probably-" Sakura began, but was cut off almost instantly.

"Both of you!" Sasuke shouted, "Do you think being a ninja is a game? Our job is to kill for whoever hires us! We're required to do these kinds of things." He spat out, "I don't see how you could have become so powerful if you're always going to cry after each fight." His features soften slightly, "If we hadn't have done this, a lot of terrible things would have happened here."

Naruto glared at Sasuke, but saw a point in what he was saying, "You're right."

A few raindrops began to fall at that moment, splattering across anything on the ground. None of them had bought anything to cover themselves, leaving them exposed to the rain.

Sakura leaned on Naruto, "Let's go." She whispered to him. Naruto simply nodded.

"Sasuke, you coming?" Naruto shouted over his shoulder when he and Sakura were a fair distance away from the sight.

Sasuke shook his head at first, and then said, "I'm going to stay for a moment longer." Naruto turned afterwards, he and Sakura vanishing in the horizon.

Now being the only one there, Sasuke fell to the ground, "I didn't mean to snap at him like that. Damn it!"

Silence was all that answered him.

His thoughts wandered to what Sakura had told him, and he gritted his teeth in anger, "Why don't they trust me? I am doing everything in my power to get them to trust me again!" He slammed his fist down, "No, calm down." He allowed himself to breathe in and out a few times.

"I understand why they don't trust me." He thought aloud, "It's ironic though, that you of all people." He said nodding his head towards Nikku's grave, "was able to gain their trust so quickly. You were actively working for the enemy, though; I suppose I was as well." He was silent for a little longer, "I am sorry for disrespecting you." He sat up and leaned against a tree near the grave, and lowered his head into his arms.

"Sasuke, are you going to come back?"

He looked up to see Kaiza standing above him, "I will in a little bit."

"Here." Kaiza sat down next to him with an umbrella he brought out, "I couldn't help but overhear you talking."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I don't know what you meant by saying you betrayed them now, or even last night when we were talking. You're only a kid; not even ten years old, but you act like an adult would. It's a real shock to meet a kid like you to be honest. I figured they would have nothing to hate you for at this age."

Sasuke looked to the ground, "It's a secret that I cannot tell."

"Official ninja business, eh?"

"Yes."

"That's ok with me." He allowed it to be silent for a little longer before sighing, "You're not easy to talk to."

"I don't want to talk."

"You kind of remind me of myself when I was young. On my team I always tried to act calm and collected, and never helped them through. Now I am not saying that you do it, and in fact, it seems like you go out of your way to help them. I just want you to know, that whatever you did couldn't have been as bad as what I did to my own."

"I doubt it."

"Oh?" The man smiled grimly, "I was simply a Genin, it was my first C-rank mission, and we were sent to give a message to a nearby village." He stopped smiling, "It was a simple mission, or so we thought. We got ambushed on the way there, and due to me my whole team was slaughtered."

"What? Just due to you?"

"I had to choose between my own life, or my team's."

Sasuke's eyes widened, "What?"

"I wish I could go back to then." He sighed, "We were trained since the academy that the mission comes before the team, and I was willing to live up to it. It was after I completed that mission that I stopped being a ninja, and it was for almost ten years that it has haunted me."

"How'd you get over it?"

"I went to visit their grave." He said, "I stood above them and begged for their forgiveness. That day, I could swear I heard them forgive me." He laughed, "I may be insane, but it was what I had been waiting for. For a decade I have been moping around, and only then did I decide to ask them to forgive me. After that, I met Tsunami, and I swore I would never make that bargain again. Gatou threatened this place, and I refused to allow him to take it away from these people."

"I see."

"You're wondering how it relates to you?" He asked, but didn't wait for an answer, "The moral of the story, kid, is to talk to them about your concerns. Things won't get better on their own; you have to make it happen. From what it sounds like is that they don't know you're having issues about this. Let them know, and talk it over." He stood up, "Now come on, do you really want to stay out here in the rain?"

"I don't know." Sasuke groaned, "This is very serious."

Kaiza sighed, hoping he had gotten through to the kid, "Ok, but here." He handed him the umbrella, "You don't want to get sick out here, ok?"

Sasuke nodded, "Thank you."

"No problem, it's the least I could do after all you and your team has done for this village."

Sasuke nodded as Kaiza walked back to his home. However, he still continued to brood on the topic, not sure if it was something he should concern the others about.

(Tsunami's house)

It came as no surprise when the four ninja were escorted to the rooms they were staying in, and didn't come out for several days. This confused Tsunami and Tazuna, but Kaiza's unwillingness to speak about it made them know that it must have been something very important.

The two men that were tied up in the Kitchen were gone, Kaiza and Naruto forced them out of the house when they had arrived, and now only an eerie silence floated around the place.

It was on the second day after the event, did one of the ninja finally exit their room.

Naruto slowly walked down the stairs, yawning as he did so. The sun was just rising and he had been awakened by it, so he decided to see how the family was doing.

"Naruto?" Tsunami questioned when he entered the kitchen, where the table was set up for breakfast. Tazuna and Kaiza both looked up at the boy. "You're up early." She mentioned as she went back to work.

No one dared talk about the event to Naruto, Kaiza just glanced at the boy and both nodded towards each other, insuring that their lips would be sealed about the event for a long time to come. "Tsunami, what's that smell?" Naruto asked as he sat down next to Kaiza.

"It's breakfast!" She chimed cheerfully, despite the almost depressing mood around the table, "Would you care for some?"

Naruto allowed a large cheery smile to grace him face, "Yes please!" Any sign of sorrow was now off his face, and replaced with excitement, almost childish excitement.

When Naruto did that, the dreadful atmosphere suddenly changed, Tazuna chuckled at the behavior being shown and leaned back to finally relax for the first time in days. Kaiza patted the boy on the back, and began some small chat with the boy.

Naruto wasn't wearing his ninja attire that morning; seeing his mission was already completed there was really no point. He had on a white shirt, and tan shorts, he left his headband in his room. Nothing at all fancy, and made him look just like a normal child of his age group.

The day went on easily, in the forest Naruto hung out with Inari who claimed that he wanted to be just like Kaiza several times and tried to walk on trees with Naruto laughing at each failure, of course, not really boosting the child's confidence.

"Naruto! If you can do this so easily why don't you teach me?" He finally cried out after another failure.

Naruto got into his thinking position, which was basically sitting down with his legs crossed, his elbows on his knees, and his knuckles holding his head up, while his face was screwed up with concentration. Finally he got up and said, "Well kid, it takes time, and I don't think I'll be here to teach you the whole process…"

"I don't care! Just teach me how to do it and I'll learn the rest!" Inari said. Excitement was evident in his voice.

Naruto, not knowing Kaiza didn't want Inari to know how simply shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

They stayed in the forest for a majority of the day, due to Inari begging Naruto to keep helping him perfect the move until he could actually make it up a couple steps. Unfortunately, this took Naruto a long time to do, for Inari had no clue how to use chakra or what it was.

Finally Naruto called it off when the sun was getting close to setting, claiming that Tsunami must be getting worried.

Luckily, Inari agreed to that.

The next day, Sasuke and Sakura both were awake and as well as Naruto was. They acted the same, not wanting to remember the events of the night, and kept completely quiet about it.

Sakura's head was down, but if one was to look at her one would see the bags still under her eyes from staying up during the nights, probably thinking of the event. She decided to wear normal clothes, much like Naruto did, a red shirt, and some shorts similar to Naruto's.

Of the three children, the one that didn't look like crap was obviously Sasuke. He had a look of indifference on his face, his eyes were glazed, as if he was thinking, and his mouth would twitch every time he stole glance at either of his teammates. He did it so quickly however, that no one noticed it.

Unlike his other two teammates, Sasuke came out in his ninja outfit, he walked slower than usual, so it was safe to assume he had put more weights into his suit to advance further. He sat down and began to eat the food available on the table.

The four family members there all glanced at each other. Kaiza held Inari's shoulder, as if not wanting him to get near the three children. Tsunami meanwhile was still serving the food while Tazuna sighed when the peaceful mood that had been there for a few days went away with the arrival of Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto asked standing next to her, "Can I sit next to you?"

She looked up and grinned, "Please do."

He sat next to her, and gave her a hug, "Did you sleep well at all?" He whispered to her.

"No." She whispered back.

Sasuke watched the exchange, knowing they had to be keeping something from him. _What are they talking about? _He felt anger rise, but quelled it quickly, knowing it wouldn't get him anywhere. _I am just being paranoid._

Once the two parted Naruto asked Sasuke the same thing, "Sasuke, you alright?"

"Wonderful." He replied, trying his best not to glare at the boy.

Naruto nodded, but not without giving Sasuke a suspicious look. He turned his attention to Kaiza who asked, "When is that man, Kakashi, getting up?"

Sakura spoke up, "Given his current condition, I'd say at least a week. He suffered high chakra exhaustion, and many minor wounds, and several more severe wounds. Luckily for him, I was around the field, so I could heal him long enough to keep him from getting into a much more severe state. All he needs now is rest."

Kaiza nodded, "That's good. We don't mind your company at all." He smiled at the three, "Stay here as long as you want, and go visit the town whenever you feel the need to. When your sensei wakes up, then you can begin to plan when you'll be leaving."

Sakura was right, it was a week later before Kakashi was up, but not well enough to travel.

All his students were in his room, sitting around him, watching his reaction, finally when nothing was being said, Naruto broke the silence and said, "Kakashi, you feeling well?"

"I feel absolutely fine." He replied and smiled, or so they thought, for his mask, once again, hid all his emotions from them.

Naruto smiled embarrassment somewhat obvious in his face, "Oh yeah, I guess you did just wake up from some horrible conditions."

"When will we leave, sensei?" Sasuke asked, his hands crossed over his chest, "I want to get back to training as soon as I can."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, noticing something different with him, but he just couldn't pin it. "Sasuke," He asked nervously, "Are you feeling ok? You seem to be acting differently."

Sakura looked down guiltily, already knowing why the boy was being different. _I should have said all that stuff to him in the forest. Stupid, stupid…_

Sasuke almost felt like smiling when he saw the guilt crossing Sakura's face, but didn't show it. "Kakashi-sensei, I'll be outside training until we leave. I'll only be here to eat and sleep." He glared at Sakura, "Don't expect to see me at all."

"Sasuke!" Naruto got up, "Sasuke! Let me train with you!"

Sasuke turned around and quickly lashed his arm out, "NO! I just want to be alone right now." He looked downcast, "Please."

"S-Sasuke." Naruto whispered, "What's wrong?"

Kakashi spoke up, "Sasuke, I don't understand what your problem is, but don't allow it to affect the team."

Sasuke glanced at Kakashi, his mind telling him to apologize to Naruto, but he could faintly feel some other thing telling him to ignore the man and walk out. "Naruto," He looked up, "I am fine." He had activated his Sharingan, and his eyes turned completely cold, almost void of life.

Once he left the room, Sakura quickly stood up, "I'll be right back."

"What happened to Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking towards Kakashi, wondering if he had any answers.

Kakashi was lying down and sighed, "Who knows? It might have been puberty." He laughed, "But seriously, I think Sakura has something to do with it, did you see how guilty she looked when you asked Sasuke what was wrong?"

"No, I wasn't paying attention to her then." Naruto sighed, "I hope she didn't do anything stupid. This Sasuke, he reminds me of the one that ran off to Orochimaru too much."

(Outside Tsunami's house)

It seemed as though the storm that had started when they buried Nikku was still going, it was very unusual for a storm to be going on for over a week, with only a few breaks. Sasuke walked out into the storm, looked up and grinned, _this fits my mood perfectly. _He almost felt the need to laugh for some reason.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called out from the doorway, "Why are you doing this?"

"Why do you think?" Sasuke glared at her, he still had his Sharingan on, "You haven't forgotten what you said to me have you?"

Sakura looked down, "Look! What I said was wrong. You have helped us so much, and I shouldn't have said any of that to you! You're good, please forgive me!"

Sasuke laughed slightly, "You think a little apology will be sufficient?"

"What!" Sakura shot up, giving him her own glare, "When you stabbed Orochimaru and turned towards us that's all you said! You know what? We took you in anyway!"

"I don't care!" Sasuke roared, "Look, I just want to be alone right now! Why are all of you thinking something is wrong with me?"

"Sasuke," Sakura sighed, "It's my fault you're like this, please, let me make it up to you."

Sasuke sighed, "Just leave me be."

She watched as he walked off, and she knew at that moment that she had probably said the most stupid thing possible to him in the forest that night. _I really hope I can turn this around._ She watched his retreating form; _I should just give him his space for now._

(Outside of Wave country)

It took another five days for Kakashi to be healthy enough to walk on his own and not have his students assist him with it. In those five days Naruto and Sakura began to say good bye to the people there they have gotten close to, and packed what little things they did bring.

Sasuke did just the opposite. He stayed away from everyone and trained most of the time, ignoring Naruto and Sakura in their attempts to get him to listen to them.

Now, as they walked out of the Country they had been working in, Kakashi could see the uneasiness Naruto and Sakura were expressing towards Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sakura said as she got to his side, making sure to be a fair distance from her other teammates, "I need to tell you something,"

Naruto glanced at her, "Is it about Sasuke?"

"Yes." She sighed, "I think he's acting like this because of something I told him. When we were in the forest before we attacked Gatou, I admitted my feelings that I still didn't trust him. I think he didn't take it very well."

Naruto stopped walking, "Sakura?" She noted the lack of the chan, and the distaste that was on his tongue as his face twisted into an angry scowl, "Why the hell would you do that." He asked, his usual goofiness on situations was completely gone.

"I don't know…" She mumbled, feeling like a child being caught with her hand in the cookie jar, "I'm sorry…" She felt a sting coming to her eyes.

Naruto walked ahead, "Damn it. You know, I think I understand why Sasuke doesn't like us anymore! He's worked his ass off for both of us and you just go and pull that stunt!" He turned towards her when Kakashi and Sasuke were far ahead of them now, "WHY! I trusted him with my life and now you just turned him back into his horrible little 'I am stupid and dumb act'!"

She looked down, not knowing what to say.

"You know what kind of lasting effects this could have? He was the one LEADING us through this new timeline, and now you just had to go blow that option off from us didn't you!" Naruto yelled, he could feel Kyuubi's chakra coming out, but he didn't care, "You are so damn STUPID sometimes!"

He felt like punching her hard, but couldn't manage to do it so he turned towards the next target, which happened to be an innocent tree and screamed as he punched it, blowing a hole right through it.

"Naruto," Sakura said, tears falling from her eyes and hitting the ground now, "I didn't mean for this to happen…"

"You better not have meant for it." He said, he walked ahead, not bothering to comfort her. _She deserves this. _He thought to himself, but could feel a pain grow in him saying he should go back and hold the crying girl, _No, She better pray that we can get him to trust us again._

He sent one last glance at Sakura, seeing her on the ground supporting herself, tears evident as a soft whimper of his name came from her.

"I'm sorry." He said, going on and leaving her to her own sorrow, only adding to his own.

(Konoha Village, the next day)

The team had finally gotten back to the village, and it looked normal to all viewing it from the outside, but Kakashi necessarily wasn't on the outside of his own team. He could tell all of his students were ignoring one another, and this team was going to fall apart if something wasn't done soon.

_This doesn't look so good. _He thought to himself as he watched all of them.

Naruto wore a guilty expression on his face and absolutely refused to look at Sakura, or even speak to her, which was definitely odd to Kakashi, considering that they loved each other more than any other relationship he knew. Naruto tried to communicate with Sasuke, but it was all in vain as he simply ignored the boy.

Sakura had a glazed over expression on her face. She almost had no emotion; it was unlike Sasuke though, who always seemed to be angry, no, she had a look of nothingness. It was hard to explain, she just seemed to not care what happened anymore. She spoke to no one, and only grunted when Kakashi gave her any orders.

Lastly there was Sasuke, who Kakashi had seen turn very sour towards his teammates for some odd reason. He ignored both Naruto and Sakura, and had a determined look in his eyes. He was always constantly training when he wasn't sleeping or eating.

_We have a lot of work to do before we can resume any team exercises, _Kakashi thought, "Well team, ready to go give the mission report?"

"Hum." Sakura responded, not even giving him a glance.

"Sure." Naruto said, looking towards the Hokage tower.

Sasuke was silent, but it was obvious that he would follow the order.

Kakashi led the Team to the Hokage tower, where they finally met with a familiar face once more. Sarutobi was sitting in his desk, and smiled when he saw who had come in. "It's good to see all of you again." He claimed and asked, "Did the mission go well?"

"We completed it the day we got there. However, our injuries required us to stay for a little while longer. We were able to save Kaiza, and killed Gatou. There was just one problem during the whole time, and that was a ninja Gatou hired." Kakashi explained, "Naruto said that he was a part of Akatsuki."

"I see. Are you three doing well?" He asked, turning to the three children.

Of the three, Naruto was the only one that tried to act no different from when they left, as he got a huge smile on his face and claimed, "Absolutely fine old man!"

Sakura and Sasuke didn't respond to him. Sarutobi looked at the children with interest; it was unusual for Sakura and Sasuke to not say anything to him from the three months he had gotten to know them.

He looked at their positions, and noted that Sasuke was in the middle, a cold expression on his face. Both his eyes were narrowed at nothing, and it seemed to others that he was examining the desk the Hokage was sitting at. Naruto had a smile on his face and was on the left of Sasuke, and seemed to be turned away from Sakura, as though he didn't want to look at her. Sakura was on the right of Sasuke, and only had a blank expression on her face.

_What is this? _Sarutobi pondered, "You three are dismissed, I'll have Kakashi here detail the mission for me. Why don't you all go eat at Ichiraku together?"

They ignored him and walked out of the room.

"What happened?" Sarutobi asked, looking towards Kakashi.

"I'm not sure. They were fine when we got there, but afterwards Sasuke started turning away from his teammates, then when we were walking back, Naruto must have said something to Sakura to get her to act like that." He sighed, "Sometimes, they claim they're not children, but they certainly act like it."

Sarutobi looked out the window, "That is not good."

"I know. I was going to have them do team training today, but with their current bitterness for one another, I don't think we'll be able to do that until they settle things with each other."

"Unfortunately so." Sarutobi sighed looking out the window, "They claim they could prevent disaster from hitting this village. Even though I am letting them think I'll allow them to lead us, I'll be right there with several ANBU watching them. We can't completely trust them… Not after Orochimaru."

Kakashi nodded, "I agree. Though, the time I have spent with them, they seem trustworthy to me, I don't think they'll betray the village from how venomously they all seem to want to protect it, especially Naruto."

"Well, that is a good sign." The third said, "I just hope they get over their little feud with one another."

"We all do."

(Ichiraku Ramen)

Only Naruto went to the Ramen stand. He, unlike the other two, didn't show his weakness to others. When he was angry or pissed off, he blow off his cap a little, then bottle it up completely inside of himself until he forgot about it, or use it again if the person continued to annoy him.

Of course, he felt incredibly guilty for what he did to Sakura; he regretted his decision ever since he had made it. If he had known it would make Sakura into a similar clone of Sasuke, he definitely wouldn't have done it, but like Sakura, he made a misjudgment.

"And now I'm paying the price, and I just made it worse for her." He sighed.

"What was that Naruto?" Teuchi asked as he made the boy a bowl of ramen.

Naruto shook his head, "Old man, I think I made a really big mistake."

"Does it have to do with the reason why your two teammates aren't here with you?" The man asked, "I was expecting to see that Sakura girl here especially, considering the relation you two had, and the Sasuke boy, he was you best friend, right?"

"You're sharper than I give you credit for." Naruto laughed bitterly, "Yeah, it has something to do with them."

Teuchi put some Ramen in front of Naruto, "Well, it a nice day with the sun shining and I still have seven hours before I close up, so why don't you tell me about it?" He leaned on the counter, listening.

Naruto took some chopstick and began to eat. Once he gulped down a bit of Ramen he sighed, "Well, Sakura-chan told Sasuke that we didn't trust him about, uh, classified information, and it made him turn into a cold asshole. Well when she finally admitted what she did to me, I got pissed at her and yelled at her and left her crying alone."

"I know what I did was wrong, and now she is acting like a zombie refusing to speak or do anything really." Naruto mumbled, "I want to apologize to her, but I'm afraid she's just going to yell at me and go on and do her own thing like Sasuke is right now."

Teuchi looked deep in thought, "Well, you've definitely got a problem there." He laughed, but once he saw Naruto wasn't he stopped, "Ahem! Anyways, if she really loves you like it seemed like before this mess happened, I think she'll go back to normal after giving a nice long beating for leaving her crying like you said. After that though, I think she'll go back to normal and you two will not have bad blood between the two of you."

"With Sasuke though, you said he went and turned all cold towards both of you when it was simply Sakura telling him this information?" He asked.

"That's right." Naruto answered.

He nodded, "Well, it seems to me if you try to tell him that you trusted him all along, then he may open up to you, but maybe not her."

"Why not?" Naruto asked.

"Would you?" Teuchi redirected the question back at the boy, knowing what his response would be.

"Touché." Naruto sighed.

He continued to eat his ramen, but not near as quickly as he normally would, "I know, maybe to make it up to her I should get some flowers or something. For Sasuke, I bet he'll want something completely different."

"What is it that he loves the most?" Teuchi suggested.

"Training, violence, missions, getting stronger, probably blood," Naruto began to list off.

Teuchi laughed, "Well, just give him a vial of your blood then!"

Naruto didn't even hear him as he continued his list, "Fights-" He stopped at that, "Maybe I could offer him a match, and throw it so he'll win? He always complained that he was weaker than me before he went and ran off to Oroch-" Naruto slapped his hands against his mouth, praying Teuchi didn't hear him.

Teuchi raised an eyebrow, but seeing Naruto reaction he whispered, "I am guessing that was part of the classified information?"

"Yes," Naruto admitted, "I trust you old man, please don't tell anyone else!" He brought up his pinky, "Swear that to me."

Teuchi smiled and brought up his own pinky, "Sure thing kiddo!"

(Haruno residence)

Sakura had walked to her home, where she hadn't seen her mother for almost four months. "Mom," She called out, "I'm home."

The place was a decent sized home. When you entered you'd have three options of where to go; in front of you would be the stairs, which led up to the bedroom, to the left would be the living room with a couch and other things, to the right would lead to the Kitchen, with a large table in the middle of it.

Sakura hit the looked to her left and saw her mother get up from the couch. "Sakura? You look well." She said as she walked over to the girl, "So… Uh, how was your mission?" She asked.

"Mom," Sakura said, tears filling her eyes, "I'm sorry!"

Her mother looked down at the child, she had wanted to avoid this conversation, but knew now that it had to be done, "I'm sorry too Sakura. I won't tell you who you can be with from now on, just as long as you visit me more often than once every four months."

She knelt down and hugged her daughter, and Sakura did the same.

Her mother spoke up, "Did- did you bring the de… Naruto with you?"

Sakura shook her head from within her mother's grasp, "No."

"Why?" Her mother asked, knowing her daughter was very upset about something, "Did he do anything to you?" Venom was in her voice; she didn't like how close her daughter was to Naruto.

"No," She cried, "It was my fault. I made Sasuke hate us, and now Naruto hates me because of it! I loved him though… it hurts." She continued to cry out.

Her mother was about to yell at her for loving the boy, but thought against it. It was the first time she had seen her daughter in months, and she was breaking down right in front of her. She knew Sakura had no one else to go to, so she had gone to the one that had raised her since she was born.

"Sakura," She whispered, "I don't know Naruto very well at all, but from what I have seen of him, I believe that he is regretting this decision he made. He doesn't hate you at all."

"Yes he does!" She cried out, "And now our team is going to fall because we all won't talk to each other. I didn't mean to make Sasuke like this! I really didn't mean it, Naruto is right; I was so stupid to do that."

Her mother held her tighter, "You're not stupid Sakura." she gently brushed her daughter's hair with her hand to calm her down, "It was only a mistake." Truthfully, she had no clue what had happened, but with Sakura calming down, she knew this technique was working.

"I can't fix it, I already tried to apologize to Sasuke, but he ignored me. I think I screwed us over! All those years Naruto and I have wasted looking for him back then, all of it was useless!" Sakura said, "Sasuke shouldn't have gone to him in the first place. Our team could have been nice! We wouldn't have to come back in time to do this…"

Her mother had absolutely no clue what she was saying now, but kept it to herself. If her daughter was going insane, at least she'd have something to tell the doctor about. _She's not going insane, she's just really distressed. _She continued to tell herself as she held Sakura.

"Sakura please, just relax." She told her daughter.

(Uchiha district)

It was the first time since he had been in this timeline that he had actually entered his home completely alone without his friends.

He went directly to the room where both of his parents had died, and sat right next to where their corpses were back then. The wooden floor here was darker than the rest, as if the blood had stained it.

Sasuke shook his head of the thought, "Mom, Dad." He began. He felt stupid, but back when he was this age, this is what he did to calm down and think things over, and it usually always worked for him. "I'm back from the mission."

"It started out well, my two… friends were goofing off as usual, and I went to patrol and found our client Kaiza. He was a nice enough man, and was also a ninja as well. Anyways, we were ambushed on our way to their house, and these thugs nearly took us out. If it weren't for them I would have died." He thought back to Naruto and Sakura then.

"I wish they trusted me, I don't want to be an avenger again. It was lonely life, and when I was with them, I felt completed once more, like I was with you two again." He rubbed the darkened floor, "After that though, Sakura told me that they didn't trust me at all," He pounded his fist against the floor.

"We completed the mission easily. Though there were some difficulties. After the mission I just wanted to be alone, but they wouldn't leave me alone at all. Though, Naruto and Sakura aren't speaking anymore either. Back on the walk home, I saw both of them stopping behind us and thought they were talking about me, but it ends up Naruto comes up with a pained look in his eyes, and Sakura later looked as though she was crying."

He thought back on the event that he just said, "Why was she crying?" He asked to the space in front of him, silence answered him once more.

"Was it because of me?" He asked once more, getting no answer, "Maybe what I am doing is wrong. What would you tell me mother? You always wanted me to be happy, what will make me happy here!"

He slammed both his fist on the floor and cried out, "GOD DAMNIT!! What do I do?"

He remembered Kaiza, "Talk to them?" He looked hesitant, "Will they even listen to me now?" He shook his head, and just sat there thinking once again.

(Konoha, Flower shop)

After talking with Teuchi, Naruto knew exactly what to do. He had to make both of his teammates back to normal. For Sakura, he knew Ino could help him. Of course, that was if she was managing the shop and willing to.

_Please let her be willing to help. _He silently prayed as he looked up at the shop.

Outside of it there were flowers arranged everywhere, and even more flowers were hanging inside the shop window, and he could only imagine another boatload inside as well. He really didn't want to do this, especially with Ino helping, but knew to get Sakura back from being a zombie he had to do this.

He opened the door and walked up to the main desk and rang the bell that was conveniently there.

"Hold on! Be right there!" A girl called out, Naruto sighed in relief, it was definitely Ino.

"Take your time!" He called back.

"Naruto?" She called, when no answer came she yelled, "Oh right! I'll be right up there!" He heard some shuffling and saw some blonde hair over the counter before hearing a small bang and a box being put at the base of the desk, and she climbed up to be able to manage things on the desk.

Naruto smiled and gave a small wave, "Hi."

"What can I do for you Naruto?" She asked, her blue orbs digging into his, he continued staring until he snapped out of it.

"Ino, I need some flowers." He said, shifting his feet.

Ino's eyes widened, "NO WAY! You're in a flower shop, and you want FLOWERS?"

Naruto glared at her, not appreciating the sarcasm, "Yes. I need some flower that says 'I'm sorry'. Do you know anything like that?"

"You're sorry? For what exactly?" Ino asked, trying to pry for more answers.

"I'm sorry, to Sakura for…" He knew Ino was only nine, and thus only had the vocabulary and understanding of one, so he said, "For being mean to her."

Ino's eyes widened, "Why were YOU of all people mean to her? In the academy you were always chasing her around wanting to date her, and then suddenly this happened?"

"Yes," Naruto sighed, "Look, can you just get the flowers? I need to do this soon, or else our team may be in jeopardy!"

Ino glanced at him with curious eyes, but decided not to pry further, it looked like she wasn't going to get anything more from the boy anyway, _He's so weird, _she thought to herself as she looked through the flowers, _I wonder why Sakura of all people likes him. _

(Haruno residence)

"I'm going out." Sakura said as she put on a jacket she had in her home. It was beginning to get slightly cold outside, the sunny weather twisted into a dark sky with gray clouds. _More rain? _She thought to herself in disdain.

"Want me to go with you?" She silently said, not wanting to see her daughter run away from her again.

Sakura shook her head but smiled, "No, I need to speak to Naruto. Even if he hates me, I've got to set this straight before it turns into a whole mess. Our team can't afford us to all not listen to one another. We need to work together, now, and always."

She shook her head at her daughter, "Ok. Go make things right."

Sakura exited her house and sighed happily, she was glad that her mother was now someone she could turn to for help, but when her thoughts went to darker matters about her team, her face fell. _I've got to be strong! _She told herself as she walked forth.

"Who can I go to for help with this?" She asked herself, "Ino? Well she's a bit younger now and probably won't have good advice." She thought it over and sighed, it was not like her list was very long outside of her mother and team.

_I could always look for Shikamaru. _That was true, besides the fact that she had no clue where she could find him at this time of day._ Ino it is then, _She sighed once more and walked forth to the shop she always ran during the afternoon.

A little later, she was at the shop, and was about to enter it when she heard a familiar yell coming from within it, "INO! I don't need that much! I'm not rich you know!"

"Well, Mr. I will do anything for her boy, what do you want? You said you wanted to say sorry and impress her, but if you get her too little she'll think you're a cheap bastard!" Ino yelled at him.

"WHAT! Sakura-chan wouldn't do that! She knows that I don't have much money to my name!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura froze; _did he call me Sakura-chan? Does that mean he forgives me? _She continued to listen to the two argue from within the place, pressing her ear against the door.

"Idiot! I don't know what she saw in you! You're cheaper than Choji when he tries to 'buy' food from people and never pays them back!"

"At least she'll know I put my whole heart and soul into it!"

Sakura smiled and felt tears leave her eyes; she had enough of what they were saying and decided to enter pretending she didn't hear a single word. She laughed a little before putting on the same face she had when she entered the village earlier that day.

"Well!" Ino was yelling from behind the counter with a ton of flowers in front of her, but she heard the door open and looked up, a grin going across her face, _she's here! _"Hey Sakura!" She called out to the newcomer.

Naruto froze that instant. _Oh shit! _He turned towards Sakura and saw the same glazed expression from earlier, _now or never, _"Sakura-chan," He looked down, "When you told me what you told Sasuke, I acted only out of anger. I know it was wrong, and I have regretted my decision the whole time it was done! I just didn't know how to apologize to you! I know you probably hate me because of it, but even if you do, just talk to us! We need our team to work! I don't care what you do," _Now to do what Teuchi told me to do, _He got on the ground and began to beg, "Please. Forgive me."

Ino was quite impressed with his performance, _not bad, _She shook her head at him.

Sakura only continued to give him the same stare, which began to concern him. He looked up slightly, and asked, "Sakura-chan are you-." He began to say, but was tackled down by her in a huge bear hug.

"I forgive you!" She cried into his shoulder, happy that he didn't hate her. The two sat on the floor for several moments. Ino didn't disturb them and only went in the back to give them some time alone. "Naruto I'm so sorry!" She cried into his shoulder.

Naruto gently brushed her hair, "No Sakura I'm sorry. I forgive you for telling Sasuke what you did. What has come to pass has passed." He slowly got up, pulling Sakura up with him, "We need to go make Sasuke part of our group again, we need him."

Sakura nodded, "Yep." Naruto motioned for her to follow her and began to walk out, but before that happened, she twisted him around and gave him a light kiss on the lips before giggling and walking out in front of him, all evidence of her tears were now gone.

Naruto only smiled, _I like this._

(Uchiha district)

Sasuke sat on top of his house, looking at the sky, which was quickly getting worse; he could begin to feel a light sprinkle. "Why do you have to do this when I am always in a crappy mood?" He asked the sky, not really expecting to be answered.

"Possibly because you can fix it." Someone said. Sasuke turned towards the voice with a Kunai in his hand, ready to strike at the person.

His eyes widened at the person, "Naruto?" He looked away, "Go away. I don't want or need to speak with you." When he said that he felt guilt course through him, making him look down to the ground.

"Sasuke please." Another person jumped on the roof, Sakura.

"What do you two want? If you don't trust me why do you still need me?" He asked bitterly.

_Here goes this one,_ "Sasuke, I challenge you to a fight."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, his eyebrows raised with curiosity, "Why do you want to fight?"

"Sasuke," Naruto began, "You're my best friend. Regardless of what Sakura-chan may have said, I will always trust you with my life. I have ALWAYS, even when we were searching for you all those years ago. Even now, we're all together again! Team Seven! I want us to stick together, we're family."

Sasuke looked away, "Family." He looked down at the part of the house his parents were in. _Mother! What would make me happy! _He recalled himself saying, "Family I think. I realize what would make me happy." He muttered to himself.

"Did you say something Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I am sorry," He started, "For everything I have put you two through. Naruto, I am sorry for fighting with you all the time when we were kids. I am sorry for trying to kill you at the Valley of the End. I am sorry for evading you guys when you both got so close to me. Back then all that mattered to me was power to kill my brother, and look where that landed me – in a pit of misery and despair. It turns out my brother was good all along, and I killed him for something he did not do, and you guys…" He paused, "You two were the family I always desired, yet always ran away from. I am so sorry."

"I know you both don't trust me, who would?" He admitted, "I have done terrible things, and I have said horrible things to both of you. If you don't trust me, that's fine. Just please help me when we're on missions. I promise that I will always try to help you two before I help myself, I give you my word."

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Sasuke was shocked when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, "Sasuke, I am sorry for saying that to you." Sakura said, holding him, "I never should have doubted you. Even when we were chasing you, I knew in the back of my heart that you wouldn't hurt us."

"But, I did try to hurt you guys." Sasuke admitted, "Several times, and I was fully intent on killing you guys right before we came back in time before something just… clicked, in the back of my mind."

"That would be your conscious!" Naruto laughed, and patted his back, "There's no way you'd kill your family like that!"

Sasuke looked down, and for the first time he felt truly happy since he had come back, "Yeah. I suppose so."

"Don't worry Sasuke, ever since we came back in time I have trusted you." Naruto said, "And it is never going to change!"

"I do too, now." Sakura admitted, holding out her hand as well, "I'm sorry for being a pain in the ass to you in both timelines." She smiled slightly.

Sasuke looked up, and had a huge grin on his face. Probably the largest one since he had been born, "Both of you, you don't know how much this means to me." Sakura released him, and both Sakura and Naruto pulled him up to his feet. Sasuke grabbed both of them and pulled them into a group hug. "You two are my family." He said, holding them tight.

They stayed together like that for near ten minutes before Naruto said, "I'm getting soaked, let's get in before you two catch a cold."

"What about you?" Sakura asked breaking the tri hug.

"Don't worry, with 'him' in me I never get sick." Naruto said waving it off. "Come on Sasuke, Sakura-chan, let's go in."

Neither Sakura nor Sasuke had any objection to that.

(Hokage Tower)

Sarutobi smiled as he put away his crystal ball he viewed the trio in, "For once, I feel as though I can truly trust them."

Kakashi who had been watching as well nodded, "Yes. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke will be the ones to save us one day. Until then, I will do all in my power to assist them in getting stronger." Kakashi began to leave the room.

"You better Kakashi." Sarutobi said, as he began to write the report for the day.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Got rid of Sasuke's declaration of working alone in the beginning, and decided to make him a lot more sympathetic with a new monologue and new dialogue with Kaiza.

-A LOT of the dialogue has been rewritten as the squad recuperated at Tsunami's house, and on their way back to Konoha.

-A lot of dialogue has been altered everywhere when they get back to town, especially involving Sasuke, making him more sympathetic.

-Got rid of the terrible plot twist at the end. It was so ridiculously stupid that I did not even bother to read it because I knew it was such a big blunder in this story. It was completely removed, for very good reasons.

-Spelling and grammar fixed all around.

This chapter actually changed a lot. So much so that some of the things in future chapters will not make sense until I rewrite them. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was definitely the first one in which I had to spend over an hour revising and rewriting. Can't wait until I get to chapter 12! 16,000 words will be a blast to fix!


	8. Age means Nothing

REWRITTEN

(Konoha Forest)

Darkness enveloped most of the forest, for it was near midnight. A man had stolen the Forbidden scroll from the Hokage, and a squad of ANBU was sent out to capture him. The forest would scare many at night, considering it always seemed like something was looking at you.

Suddenly, three figures jumped down from the trees, and seemingly flew to their positions, behind trees. They were surrounding the man that had stolen the scroll.

"This is Fox. I'm in position."

"Raven, in position."

"Emerald, in position."

They all spoke into their headset, which then responded back to them, "Ok, go for it. Make sure to take him out."

The three stepped out of their positions, all wore a long black robe so they'd fit into the shadows they were crawling through, none wore mask though, like the traditional ANBU were suppose to.

The smallest of the trio walked forth, "Mizuki, this is a major offense, and is punishable by death. Give us the scroll now and come peacefully or we'll be forced to kill you."

"No!" Mizuki shouted, "I will never do that! I will take this and become strong, so I can take over the Hidden Leaf village!" He ironically still wore the Konoha Chunin vest, and had several very large Shuriken on his back. His eyes narrowed, and his almost white hair blew in the breeze that came by.

The small ninja in front of him began to laugh, "Ok. Let me be the one to teach you the first technique in there then." He put his hands together to form his signature move, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"W- who are you?" Mizuki asked, his white hair seem to cover his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at all his opponents in front of him.

"I am," One of the many clones walked forth and said, "Uzumaki Naruto." The clone quickly punched Mizuki in the face, sending him across the clearing, his red eyes blazing with hatred.

Mizuki looked up, and when he noticed the red eyes he began to scream, "NO! Kyuubi! Don't kill me, please!" He began to beg and fell on the floor, allowing the scroll rolling off to the side.

The other two ANBU walked forth. Emerald retrieved the scroll while Raven walked forth towards Mizuki. "Mizuki-sensei," the ANBU laughed, "Ah, I remember calling you that in the academy."

"Uchiha Sasuke?" Mizuki muttered as he looked up into the boys Sharingan eyes, "Do something about the demon he will-" He was suddenly punched in the gut.

"For taking the scroll and admitting you were going to use it against us, I present to you, death." Sasuke grabbed his neck and twisted it with all his might, easily breaking it.

Emerald walked towards the corpse and sighed, "You know, Sasuke, you don't always have to kill them so soon. You could at least let me introduce myself to him first. It would have made it more climatic."

"Heh. What did I tell you about being a ninja, Sakura?" Sasuke smirked.

Sakura rolled her eyes and said, "It's not a game. Yeah, yeah, I heard it before."

Naruto turned to them and deactivated the red eyes he had on. They weren't very useful; it only made him see things with a red hue and made him look much more intimating. He also made all his clones disappear as well. "Good job you two!"

"Right," Sakura sighed and put the scroll she was holding on her back. "Let me get a blood sample from him before you drag him back so I can confirm it was actually him." She muttered as she pulled out a needle that would get the blood out of the dead body.

Once she finished she got up, "Ok, done, do what you want to the corpse…"

Naruto picked up the corpse and began to drag it away, "The least we can do for his body is bury it."

Sasuke sighed; it was pointless to argue with Naruto about these things. He only nodded.

Now that they were all in visible moonlight, it was clear to see what they all looked like. It was three long years ago when they began training to become ANBU, and now they were doing multiple missions weekly for the Hokage, and advised him on many subjects as well.

Naruto had the same spiky hair he was known for and same sky blue eyes. He had grown relatively little in the three years while it seemed both his teammates outgrew him very quickly. He was not annoyed that he was so small however, for he knew he'd eventually outgrow Sakura and be as tall as Sasuke. He was very good at Ninjutsu now, and relearned all of his techniques from the previous timeline, and had requested that Jiraiya be his sensei to Sarutobi.

Sakura wasn't much different either. Besides the fact that in this timeline she had decided to keep her hair long, it went down to her mid-back, and unlike her old timeline she didn't spend nearly as much time fussing over how she looked. She was a very powerful medic ninja, and now that she had control of all her chakra from before, maybe even more, she could very well be the best one in the world, besides Tsunade maybe.

Sasuke perhaps, changed the most. He was no longer the quiet type, and he was actually very social and spoke often with people. He kept his hair the same, and had managed to get his Sharingan to the stage he had it when he was working for Orochimaru, the last stage he never really wanted to achieve anyway, because it would require killing the one he loved or liked most. He, like Naruto, and Sakura, had relearned all the things from before, and managed to become very powerful.

The three nodded at each other and began to run to Kakashi, who was speaking to them on the headset. He stayed at the Hokage tower, so if the need arise, he could send help, but of course he knew Mizuki stood no chance against his students.

"Ok kids; come back here as soon as possible." He said into the set, "I'm turning it off now, seeing that your objective is complete now, correct?"

"Correct Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke said into his headpiece.

With that said, the three ran towards the village which was now within their view.

(Hokage Tower)

"Hokage-sama, my team has caught Mizuki and are heading back as we speak." Kakashi said, almost in a bored tone.

"Very good Kakashi," Sarutobi said, "I know this task was way below their skill, but I wanted to catch him as soon as possible. It would be dangerous if he did manage to escape with the scroll."

Kakashi nodded, "I understand Hokage-sama."

The door suddenly flew open and a body was tossed in before three other figures walked in. The body that was thrown was the corpse of Mizuki, while the three figures were Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Before they entered the tower they had changed into their Chunin gear, for they didn't want anyone to know their true skill level. All of them, even Sakura, wore the Chunin vest over a black ninja outfit, which over the three years, had to be refitted and designed for their growing bodies.

"Hey old man! Next time, don't send us on such a low ranked mission. I'm pretty sure Iruka could have easily taken him out with no help at all." Naruto pouted.

Sarutobi laughed a little before saying, "Yes, Naruto, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." His face suddenly turned serious as he said, "Now, I am going to get you three off active ANBU duty, for within a month the Chunin exams are going to occur, and we need you three in the village to supervise it."

Sasuke looked up, "The Chunin exams? This will be fun."

"Well, we can't engage in direct combat with the Sand or Sound, or it'd make us look like the betrayers here. What we need to do is make them hate each other instead so the Sand won't break their alliance with Konoha." Sakura explained, "That way, we don't have to stretch our forces so thin to fight."

Sarutobi nodded, "Good, how do you suggest we go about this then?"

"Well," Sakura looked deep in thought, "Orochimaru is going to disguise himself as the Kazekage, and attempt to kill you. So, if we can show the Sand that he killed their leader, they'd definitely side with us."

Sasuke spoke up, "How do we show them that? Orochimaru does it within the month before the third exam, we'd need to time this exactly, or else it will cost us."

"When we capture him we're going to have to interrogate him to learn where his base is," Naruto growled, "Then I'll kill him." His eyes turned red and a little bit of Kyuubi was coming out, but he quickly shook his head, and coughed, allowing it all to go away.

Sasuke nodded, "Yes, then you can kill him, with my help of course."

"Right," Kakashi sighed, "Now, why don't you children all go to bed now?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, it IS pass midnight now; I need my energy to protect Konoha tomorrow!"

The three exited the room, leaving the corpse of Mizuki in the room for Kakashi and Sarutobi to handle. The three exited the building and began to walk down the main road of the village that, at this time of night, was almost empty besides some ninja.

Sakura turned to the right, "Ok guys, I'll see you both tomorrow!" Naruto grabbed her and gave her a kiss before leaving.

"Don't be gone too long," He said with a grin on his face. Sasuke visibly rolled his eyes.

"I'll try not to be." She smiled seductively before turning around and going towards her house.

Sasuke waited several moments on the walk to his house, or better to say his and Naruto's house, before saying, "So, why did she move out a year ago?"

"She says it's because of hormones. I mean I am technically, what? Twenty two now? I can resist the urge of it all! Of course, she doesn't think so." Naruto sighed, a dejected look on his face.

Sasuke grinned, "Naruto, I don't really think you could resist it either."

"I hate you." Naruto said half-heartedly.

"I love you too." Sasuke countered and walked towards the Uchiha district that was within their view. "Ok, here we are."

They both entered the house and walked separate ways. Sasuke had since long gotten over sleeping in his room, and gave Naruto Itachi's room. Naruto had to double-check it for anything that could be considered bad before accepting the room.

In the hallway before they went to different paths they shook hands, "Good job today." Sasuke said to Naruto.

Naruto nodded, "You too."

With that said, both of them went to sleep in their separate rooms.

(Uchiha district, the next day)

Naruto and Sasuke both woke up and prepared to leave almost straight away, of course, Sasuke now had a million Ramen cups in his cabinets. It was really useful actually, Sasuke had to admit, it allowed him to put it in the microwave, quickly go into his room and change, and both their breakfast would be done when they came out in their clothes.

Today they had ANBU duty off luckily, but unfortunately, their alternate lifestyle was being a Chunin, and since Mizuki happened to be a Chunin, one new Chunin would have to go in his place. Of course, Sarutobi figured that they'd all want to reject his position at the academy, so he appointed one position to all three of them.

"I can't wait to see the look on Iruka's face." Naruto laughed before taking a bunch of noodles and shoving them in his mouth. Sasuke nodded, snickering slightly as well as he took a bunch of noodles into his mouth. They both left the house, with their ramen in hand.

Sasuke turned towards Naruto, "Ok, lets get Sakura quickly, the Genin exams are going to occur within the hour, and don't hold it up this time!" Sasuke said, sending an annoyed glare at his friends.

"Hey! It only happened once!" Naruto yelled with a blush visible on his face.

"This time, how about you wait in the hall with me? That way, there will be no repeat of last time." Sasuke muttered, looking away with an annoyed expression.

"Whatever," Naruto sighed, "I'm just glad her mom didn't see us." He then lowered his voice to a whisper, "Do you know how _pissed _she would be?"

Sasuke held in his laugh and choose to instead eat another bit of the noodles, "You know," He said going off the subject, "I hope I don't turn into a ramen junkie like you."

"Ramen is good! Why wouldn't you want to be?" Naruto asked; glad to be off the subject.

Sasuke shook his head, "Let's just get to Sakura's place so we can get this mission over with."

(Haruno Residence)

Sasuke and Naruto both stood outside of the house and rang the doorbell. The one to answer was Sakura who was wearing her chunin vest and outfit, she shot them a pleading look, and snuck out, "Do not let her know you guys are-" She began to say, but the door was opened once more, and Mrs. Haruno came out.

"Naruto! Sasuke! It's so good to see both of you!" She grabbed both of them and tangled them in her arms, giving them a huge bear hug. Both of the children were gasping for breath, while Sakura sighed in embarrassment.

"Mom, we don't have time for this! We have to go work!" Sakura said, obviously annoyed with her mother at the moment.

"Yes, eh, Mrs. Haruno," Naruto said, "We really need to hurry!"

The woman dropped both Naruto and Sasuke and grinned, "You know Naruto you can call me, 'mother in law' if you want."

Naruto looked up at her in terror, "N- No! I'll wait until that day comes when I have to do so! Until then, you're Mrs. Haruno!"

She then invited them in, not wanting to be rude, or make her angry with him, Naruto quickly agreed to head in with her. Sasuke sighed and followed Naruto, simply because he didn't want to be outside for god knows how long, and Sakura looked down dejectedly before going in herself.

The woman led them to the kitchen table where some tea was set out for the three children. "Drink up! If you need anymore simply ask me, I have a full pot still!" She sat at one end of the table, while Sasuke at the other. Sakura and Naruto both sat side by side.

"So, how has your work been going?" Mrs. Haruno asked.

Sasuke decided to answer this with, "Well you see. We got a mission today where we need to evaluate the performance of the academy students and see if they're good enough to pass on to take the real Genin exams. Thing is," Sasuke said, "We have to be there within twenty minutes, and I, I don't know about the rest of you, like to be there a little early out of habit."

"OH!" Mrs. Haruno exclaimed, "You're going to see if your other friends are good enough to pass? You think that Ino girl will? She seems like a nice girl. I see that she has taken a liking to you Sasuke."

"Then you must have also noticed that every other girl in the academy has as well," Sasuke sighed, "I'm not a fan of fan girls…"

Naruto took a sip of his tea and then asked, "So, Sakura-chan, how are you this morning?" He sent a glance at her mother, making sure she was okay with the conversation, when she nodded at him he gave a sigh of relief.

"I'm fine. I could be better." She sent him a small glare so her mother couldn't see it, "What did you do before you came here?"

"Well, um, Sasuke," He pointed to Sasuke, as if they didn't already know who he was, "and I ate ramen when we woke up, and sort of came here afterwards. Of course we showered too, and normal ninja stuff I guess."

"We're fine." Sasuke muttered, "If you were even wondering."

Sakura glanced at her mom, "We need to go now, we're going to be late at this rate." She pleaded, with the woman.

"Fine," She sighed, "Go ahead, and be safe." She walked over and gave her daughter a hug who quickly returned it.

The three children raced out the door and were long gone by the time she looked out the window. To be truthful, she didn't like Naruto and Sasuke very much. She only supported them because her daughter, for one reason or another trusted them and wanted to be with them all the time, even when they had no missions. Though the amount of times Sasuke didn't go with them began to increase little over time.

It's not that she hated Naruto being with Sakura, she got over that some time ago, it was the fact that the villagers seem to dislike Sakura now, and it was beginning to affect their family life. When she went shopping for instance, she had to avoid some shops because her daughter was friends with Naruto.

She of course beat them to a bloody pulp, but had to avoid their places ever since. It seem that only the Uchiha was the reason that Sakura and Naruto weren't being completely harassed, and with him not being with them as often, she was afraid for her daughter and Naruto.

Days like today, she would be especially kind to the two of them and try to start conversations. What she really wanted to do was bring up her concern with them, but every time she brought them in, they looked so young and probably couldn't handle the truth.

"I have to say something eventually." She sighed as she began to clean off the table.

(Outside the academy)

When they were a fair distance from the household Sasuke sighed, "I don't know if I liked her when she was a bitch, or now that she's like that!"

"I am wondering the same thing," Naruto agreed, after a little bit he exclaimed, "Ok! Now that we're all together, lets go to the academy! I can't wait to see them all!" A huge smile was spread across his face.

"Same here, I can't wait to see their expressions when we're the ones that will decide that they'll either pass or fail," Sakura said, then looked deep in thought, "You know, they may blame us if they fail saying we're being bias."

Sasuke glanced up, "Who cares? If they complain to us I'll just kick their ass, and if they complain to the Hokage, he'll call me in so I can kick their ass. It's a win-win situation." He shrugged.

The three entered the academy grounds and saw that they were completely empty, only several children their age ran pass them to hurry and enter the academy before it was too late to begin the exams. Many passed Naruto, and his two friends, but one stopped when they realized who they were.

"Naruto?" A boy asked from behind them. They turned around to see Kiba with Akamaru hanging out on his head, "What are you doing here?" He glanced at his vest and glared, "Holy crap! You're already a chunin? The dead last?"

"Not the dead last anymore dog breath." Naruto said, smirking at the boy, "You're below me now, so what do you plan on doing?"

Kiba looked lost and then looked at Sasuke and Sakura, "Ah man, you two too?" Akamaru barked in what seemed like disappointment as well.

Sasuke smirked similar to Naruto, and Sakura gave him a sympathetic smile, "Yep." She confirmed.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Kiba said crossing his arms, "Here to boast that you're a huge step ahead of us already?"

Naruto nodded, "I might do that," he shook his head and said, "Nah, we're here to replace Mizuki. He had an accident last night and we're here to see who is passing and who isn't."

"Oh," Shino walked up standing next to Kiba, "Really." Everyone looked at him, expecting him to continue his train of thoughts, but silence was all that occurred.

"Anyway," Naruto said after a few moments, "I won't be bias, if I fail you guys it's because you're not good enough to go out and risk your lives. If you pass I expect you to not go and get yourself killed."

Kiba sent him a glare; "You're not going to fail me, right?"

"Don't worry Kiba." Sakura spoke up, "Sasuke and I agreed that Naruto will only count as ten percent of our group's vote, so you don't need to worry about him screwing it up."

Naruto looked as though his body had just been pierced by a chidori again. "What!" He cried out, "Why? I won't be bias! I know who to pass and what to do! I'm not an idiot like you all think I am!" He crossed his arms and got down on the ground crossing his legs and pouting, "Come on, let me have at least thirty percent."

"You're not proving your point." Sasuke sighed.

Sakura kneeled down towards Naruto, "Naruto, we know you're not an idiot. We just felt that it would be for the best just in case you wanted to take advantage of some students."

Naruto sighed, knowing he wasn't going anywhere with this, "Fine." He sighed, his pouting not getting him anywhere. Inside of his mind he felt a distant rage, but knew it would be of no use and shut it all up, if he let Kyuubi out for something as small as this, what would his friends think of him?

Sakura leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Thanks." She said, _I was expecting him to make a bigger deal out of it,_ She thought to herself, but didn't think more of it.

_Hm. I guess he did mature after all. _Sasuke thought, and grinned slightly, it was good that Naruto was moving away from his childish behavior, it sometimes annoyed the hell out of him.

"We should head in, I'm sure Iruka is expecting us." Sakura spoke up.

Before they could finally enter the academy they heard a small voice call out to them, "N- Naruto-kun…" It spoke, Naruto turned around to see Hinata. Shikamaru and Choji were both close behind the girl.

"Hello Hinata! Long time no see!" He waved at her and gave her a short hug, thinking nothing of it as the girl squirmed lightly in his grasp, and a nearby Sakura giving him a glare. Sasuke just snickered as he watched the whole thing begin to unfold.

Hinata stepped away from Naruto and tried to stop her rapid heartbeat, and breathed in and out heavily. Finally she seem to be back to normal, "It's g- good to see y- you too." She smiled at him.

"So, why are you with Hinata, Shikamaru?" Sasuke called out, he couldn't ever remember him hanging out or even speaking to her in the old timeline.

Shikamaru sighed and said, "I'd explain it, but it would take too much time, and then Iruka would be too troublesome."

_Oh yeah, I'm beginning to remember him now. How troublesome. _Sasuke thought to himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto and Sakura giving Shikamaru a distant look.

"Naruto," Shikamaru called out.

Naruto instant turned to him and said quite forcibly, "Sir!" Naruto realized his mistake and put on a grin and said, "Oops! Must have been playing too many arcade games lately, you know, the ones where you go kill people and stuff."

"Right," Shikamaru said, giving the boy a weird look, "What was with the strange look?"

Naruto eased himself and said, "It's just good to see you again. It's been a long time since we've hung out."

Sakura smiled at the double meaning behind Naruto's words. _When they were kids Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji would always run away from school with each other and had actually gotten pretty close before their parents told them to stay away from him. _Sakura reminded herself, _in the previous timeline Shikamaru was a leader to us all, and advised Naruto on many things. He was a great leader._ She shook her head; she didn't need to think about that right now.

"You too Naruto." Shikamaru said, and began to walk to the academy.

Naruto stopped him and said, "Wait! For old time's sake, why don't you, Kiba, Choji and I pull one last prank on Iruka-sensei?"

"Too troublesome." Shikamaru said, but was instant pulled by Kiba and Choji over to Naruto.

Choji nodded, "Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, it's been ages since we've done this!" Kiba agreed.

Shikamaru looked at the three of them and sighed, "You all are so troublesome." It was obvious that he wanted to join them however, with the grin forming on his face.

"So, what're we going to do?" Choji asked, as the four of them formed a circle.

Outside, Sasuke, Sakura, Shino and Hinata watched with little interest.

"I hope t-they don't hurt themselves." Hinata said with an almost fearful look in her eyes.

"Don't worry; with Shikamaru with them, I doubt they'll get into too much danger. Then again, Naruto and Kiba do like to do suicidal things. I'm pretty sure Choji will stick with whatever Shikamaru does as well." Shino explained, "I hope they don't ruin the exams, however, or else my bugs will have a large feast tonight." Everyone moved slowly away from the person.

Sasuke sighed, "Sakura, shall we head in and give him a heads up?"

"Yeah, why not." Sakura said and began to walk in with Sasuke, Shino and Hinata both followed after watching the four boys plan things for a little over two minutes.

(Inside the Academy)

Hinata and Shino walked down the hall to the waiting room for the Genin exams. Of course they didn't know that this was just a small test before the real Genin exams, but Sasuke and Sakura did. The two of them entered the room, and noted that it was the same classroom that Iruka had always taught in.

Suddenly, when Sasuke entered, the chatting that was going on in the room stopped immediately, and many eyes turned and looked at the ones who entered, or more precisely, Sasuke.

The squeal of 'Sasuke-kun' was deafening to anyone within a fifty meter radius.

"Sasuke," Sakura moaned as her eardrums continued to bang, "I think your fan club has noticed you."

Sasuke glanced over and sarcastically replied, "You think so?"

"Don't you dare speak to me like that right now!" Sakura yelled at him as she used medical jutsu on her ear to get the ringing to go away, that pretty much everyone in the room was suffering from.

She healed Sasuke's though anyways, "Thanks, Sakura." Sasuke said rubbing the side of his head. He looked up and noticed large amount of women in front of him, he couldn't help but gasp at the large number of them. "Girls, back away now, and I might consider letting you all pass the exam." He said, praying it would work.

"Is Sakura your girlfriend now." One came up to ask, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Sasuke looked at her, he wanted to laugh in her face and say 'hell no', but if it would get him out of this, then… "If I said yes?" He asked.

"We'll have to convince you that we're better than that flat-chest large forehead man-girl!" She yelled, pointing at Sakura, who felt a presence within her come back.

KILL THEM! Her inner self screamed at her. Over the years, Sakura had to admit that she needed her inner self to relieve stress for things. She never took its advice most of the time, but there are some rare occasions that she did.

_With pleasure! _ She yelled mentally and went forth to pound the girl right through the ground.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled as he quickly held her arms up and tried to pull her back, but unfortunately Sakura decided to use her chakra to increase her strength ten-fold, and was easily overcoming Sasuke's own. _She must be really pissed if she's doing this! _He thought frantically.

Right before Sakura was about to pound the girls standing in front of her a blue mist fell from the ceiling with a loud cry of, "Oops! Sorry! I'm sure Iruka-sensei won't mind sharing though!" It was obviously Naruto, with whatever prank he was pulling.

Sasuke noticed Sakura eased her pulled and looked up to the ceiling and thanked Naruto, _Thank you, you just saved several innocent lives today. _He released Sakura and tried to find Naruto, _Where is he?_

When the mist went away from the girls, they were all multi-colored, and whatever was on their minds about Sakura and Sasuke had completely vanished as they shrieked as the color didn't rub or wash off their skin in any fashion.

Naruto watched from the corner of the ceiling, Shikamaru was by his side. "Ok, they deserved that." Naruto said, giving them a glare, "Shall we proceed to rig the ceiling above where Iruka-sensei will be?"

"Wait for Kiba and Choji to tell us when he's coming so we can time it." Shikamaru muttered, he wanted to add troublesome to the end of it, but felt that even that was too troublesome. _How troublesome… _He mentally sighed.

Suddenly Kiba and Choji burst into the room and Kiba held up his hand with four fingers up. Choji gave thumbs up to no one in particular and went to sit down with Kiba.

"Four minutes," Naruto said, "Plenty of time. Be sure to put as much of this stuff as you want in it." Naruto said, pulling out the bluish colored water, "I can't believe I forgot about this stuff and left it outside of this place for so long." Naruto held in his laugh.

Shikamaru nodded and held a small mist machine, "Pour the liquid into this thing so I can sit down and not look suspicious."

Naruto poured almost the whole thing into the machine and snickered, "Ok, you can go down, I'll set it up."

"Ok, good luck Naruto." He said as he climbed down a corner so no one would notice. He walked by Sasuke and Sakura who gave him a strange look.

"Where have you been?" Sasuke asked, trying to start a conversation.

"No where in particular." Shikamaru said as he continued on to sit with his best friend, and the Hyuuga that seemed as though she couldn't leave his side.

Naruto rigged the trap and jumped down in the middle of the room. Several people screamed when they saw him and then he realized his second mistake that day, _God damn it! _He cursed himself, "Hi," He said, "I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to drop in and say hi! I already did, so I need to see Iruka-sensei now! Have fun everyone!" He waved and casually walked over to Sasuke and Sakura.

The multi-colored girls all glared at him, but kept their distance, not wanting to get too close to him.

"When's Iruka coming?" Sasuke asked Naruto when he was close enough.

"Any minute now!" Naruto grinned.

Iruka suddenly walked in the room, holding multiple papers calling out, "Ok students, sit down. We'll wait a little bit for my assistant to get here." He walked to the front of the room and noticed three students not sitting down. "Why aren't you-" He began to say, but took a closer looked and said, "Naruto?"

"Sasuke and Sakura too if you're wondering." Sasuke said, waving at the man.

Naruto smiled and yelled out, "Good to see you Iruka-sensei!"

Suddenly a load of blue mist fell from the ceiling, completely covering Iruka and the front row of the room. Sasuke and Sakura both sighed as they realized that this was Naruto's and his friend's prank.

"Does this do the same thing as it did to the girls earlier?" Sasuke asked Naruto right next to him.

"Yeah pretty much. We couldn't figure something out that wouldn't take several hours, so we had to settle on this." He took time to admire Iruka's confused expression, "It was some gunk I created and was going to use if we," He whispered the last part, "didn't get transported back at this period of time."

Sakura nodded, "Makes sense."

"NARUTO!" Iruka yelled, seeing as he was now multi-colored, "How do I get this crap off of me!" The students in the front row were just as unhappy about the event.

Naruto thought for a moment before saying, "Maybe a week or two. Don't worry; it's not permanent at least." He gave Iruka a huge grin.

"Is that the only reason you're here?" Iruka asked, getting quite annoyed, "To do a prank on this very important day?"

"Nope! We're here to substitute for Mizuki!" Naruto said, grinning until the whole classroom burst into laughter. Naruto laughed with them, _I can't wait to see their faces when they realize I am not lying!_

Iruka shushed the class up and said, "Are you joking Naruto? I know you children are chunin already, but are you really old enough to not be bias?"

"We're plenty old enough!" Sasuke said, offended that Iruka would say such a thing.

"Yeah." Sakura said, "We're here by the Hokage's order. Here are our papers." She handed him a small stack of papers that were written in Iruka's handwriting.

Iruka smiled, "its kind of Ironic that the Hokage would give you guys this mission I wrote out." He looked at them, "But if he trusts you to do this then I'll trust you guys." As if forgetting that he was now multi-colored Iruka called out, "Ok, we're going to begin the exams now! When I call your name be sure to follow one of us that will come into the exam room. First up is…" Iruka looked through the mess of papers in his hands, "Aburame Shino."

Shino got up and followed the four people who were to give him the test.

They entered a small square shaped room with a table with many Konoha headbands, and two chairs behind it. Iruka looked apologetic at the three students, but Naruto simply grinned and stood to the side of the table nearest to the door, while Sasuke stood on the other side. Sakura and Iruka took this as their cue to sit down.

"Ok Shino, if you would please stand in front of us all." The multi-colored teacher said, Shino nodded and walked forth. "Ok, for your exam we'll need you to do one basic jutsu and we'll rate you on your performance." Iruka thought for a moment before saying, "Ok, you'll need to form two perfect clones of yourself to pass."

Shino nodded and put his hands together to form the correct seals. Suddenly, without him saying anything, two clones of him popped to life next to him. "I believe I pass."

"Congratulations." Iruka said, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto looked skeptical.

_Was the test really that easy when I took it? _Naruto thought to himself, _I must have really sucked back then. No wonder I was considered a loser._

Sasuke seeing Naruto face change emotions so quickly asked, "Hey, Naruto, you holding up well?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, yeah! Anyways Shino, good job, you pass." He handed Shino a headband and watched him leave the room.

"Naruto, could you please go get Akimichi Choji please?" Iruka asked looking up at the boy. Naruto nodded and walked out of the room shortly after Shino to get the boy.

_From feeling all of these children's chakra signatures I can tell over half of them are not ready to become real ninja yet. _He entered the waiting room and called out, "Akimichi Choji, come with me." Choji got up and followed Naruto.

"Is the exam easy?" Choji asked his friend.

"Probably too easy for you." Naruto sighed, "It's hardly even an exam."

Choji nodded and gave Naruto a weird look, "Are you okay? You look kinda sick."

Naruto shook his head and smiled, "Nah, I was just thinking of ways to improve this exam. If I were leading it I'd test soon-to-become Genin all forms of Jutsu, throwing, and defenses. Not just one random technique, that's like killing your own students!"

"Naruto," Choji said, "Are you sure you're ok? I haven't seen you act like this before."

_Ah, can't let myself get carried away by this, _Naruto quickly thought and smiled, "No worries Choji, I'm going to change this so your children will become much better ninja than you and I at this age."

After a few more seconds Naruto led the boy into the testing room. As expected by all of them, he easily passed with flying colors. The exams moved along like this for almost an hour. Every five minutes or so a student would either pass or fail.

It of course got interesting when Sasuke's first fan girl appeared. Like most of his fans, they were multi-colored similar to Iruka when they walked in.

"Ami," Iruka said, "Can you please form two clones of yourself?"

She nodded confidentially and said to Sasuke, "If I pass want to go on a date?"

"No." Sasuke said, glaring at her.

"Please?"

"No." He responded again.

"Pretty please?"

"NO!" he shouted, "Do the damn test to see if you're capable of becoming a ninja so we can move this boring task on!" A vein was visible in his head.

Ami shook herself and sighed, it was just another failed attempt of many. She formed the correct hand seals and shouted, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Smoke filled the room and a complete clone looked at the near dead body of the other clone.

"As I expected," Iruka sighed, "You fail Ami."

"I agree with Iruka." Sakura sighed, "You lack the proper chakra control to do a basic jutsu."

She walked out dejectedly while Sasuke was practically dancing on the inside.

Naruto was listening for the next person who he was going to be asked to bring in. "Naruto, bring in Yamanaka Ino." Naruto again nodded and walked out to bring in Ino.

When she walked in Ino gave Sasuke a thumb up and claimed, "Sasuke! If I pass want to go on a date with me?" Again Sasuke mentally cursed his popularity among the girls of the school and rejected her once more.

"Let's do something interesting here." Sakura spoke up before Iruka, "Successfully mind-control one of us and, I don't know, do some basic movements I guess."

Ino nodded and formed the correct seal towards Sasuke, "Here goes!" She used her jutsu and Sasuke narrowly managed to replace himself with Iruka in time.

"Not in your life Ino." Sasuke sighed, "You're Ino now right?"

Iruka looked down at him and cursed, "Damn! I missed!"

"You pass Ino." Sakura smiled, "Now go back to your body and let's get this mission over with."

Ino pouted for a short bit and left to her body, taking a headband and leaving.

It took about an hour and a half later for the exams to be completed, and the three children cheered and left the building. Not before Iruka gave Naruto a hug and offered him some ramen. Naruto would have accepted, but decided to go with Sakura and Sasuke, telling him "some other time!"

(Streets of Konoha)

"That," Naruto sighed, "Was boring as hell."

"You think being Hokage will be any different?" Sasuke asked, looking over at him, "It'll probably be worse actually. You have to grade people on their performance, decided what ranks missions are, paper work, and so much other crap. Really, when you become Hokage, I'll try not to be jealous."

Naruto sent him a glare while Sakura giggled slightly.

"You know," Naruto said after a few moments of silence, "I didn't like how the exams were held. They only had to do one jutsu to pass. What is that? That's too easy for them, and a Genin could possess so much more skill than that!"

Sakura nodded, "I was actually thinking the same thing. I was wondering what we were doing there as well. I'm pretty sure Iruka could have handled that himself and the same amount of people would have passed."

"That's what the real Genin test is for." Sasuke spoke up, "You don't really think that Iruka is that stupid do you?"

Naruto felt slightly ashamed for even making Sasuke get that conclusion, "No, I know Iruka-sensei is doing what he believe is best for his students."

"Besides, if any Jounin passes half of what I saw, I will seriously have to go slaughter them." Sasuke said, and a grin appeared on his face. "So, today is our day off, and that's the only assignment the Hokage gave us, what do you guys want to do?"

Sakura thought for a bit before saying, "Not my house." Naruto and Sasuke both paled at the mere mention of her home, with her mother being there.

Naruto glanced at Sakura and asked, "Sakura-chan, want to go on a date tonight?"

"I was wondering when you were finally going to ask that in this timeline!" Sakura exclaimed, "Sure thing!" She hugged Naruto tightly and gave him a light kiss.

Sasuke looked on and said, "You know, I am going to leave you guys alone tonight and do some planning at my house."

"No!" Sakura said and grabbed his wrist, Naruto and Sasuke looked at her questioningly. "Why don't you go find some girl you like and we can do a double date?"

Sasuke's eye twitched at the mention of finding a girl and said, "No. No thank you, I like my idea."

"Ah come on!" Naruto said, "Don't you want to eventually revive your clan? Now is the best time to find a girl!"

"So is any other time." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke," Sakura gave him a glare, "If you don't find someone, I will be sure to crush all that is precious to you." She cracked her knuckles and advanced slowly at him.

Sasuke thought of his options, and finding the safer one he said, "Fine! I'll go find a girl to date for one night!"

He walked off without saying any other word. Naruto watched him go on and fell to the ground laughing, "Oh my god! He's actually going to try to find a girl? I can't imagine what his pick-up line will be!" He got up and faced Sakura, "I bet you five hundred ryou that he won't find a girl."

"Sure." Sakura said and grinned, "I'm sure he will. He's 'the last Uchiha' after all."

"Of course," Naruto sighed. Silence reigned for a few moments, allowing Sakura to look down as though she was wondering if she should ask Naruto something while Naruto began to think of the Uchiha getting any women at all.

_Hm, Sakura-chan has a point. He is an Uchiha, I wonder who he'll pick. _Naruto was too deep in thought to hear Sakura's question.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, breaking him out of his chain of thought.

"Eh?" he said unintelligently. He saw her struggle to say what she was going to say again and focused his attention on her. _I wonder what this is-_

"Do you think I have a flat chest?" She asked with a blush visible on her face.

"Ah! Well, I, eh…" He turned around, "it's kind of hot out here, isn't it?"

Her eye twitched, "I asked you a personal question Naruto!"

"Well, you're only twelve! Why would you care how, eh, big you are?"

"Fine." Sakura sighed, "When I was eighteen, did you think so?"

"Please don't ask me this!"

"Tell me what you think!"

"I don't know! Do you take me for some pervert like Ero-sensei? I never really paid attention to-" He stopped, and remembered back to the future, "Well…" _Oh man, I know I am going to say something stupid! _"You looked fine! Beautiful even! There was more to you than your chest!"

"Wait. So you're saying I was flat-chested?"

_Oh boy._ Naruto thought to himself as Sakura continued to look at hi questionably, "Well, compared to say, Ino-"

"Ino? You're saying she had a bigger chest than me?" She yelled out.

"Yes." Naruto nodded.

She suddenly started to strangle him, "I can't believe you'd say that!"

Naruto was starting to get whiplash from being swung back and forth so hard, "Sakura!" He called out, "You look good! I would never want to date Ino anyway!"

"That's what I wanted to hear!" She yelled, crushing her head into his chest in a hug.

"No Problem Sakura-chan…" Naruto said and glanced down at the girl, _I won't look at her chest! I am not a pervert! I will not!_

She got up and said, "Well, it's just about noon, so we have all day to do something until tonight. I wonder if Sasuke will have a date by then."

_Her chest isn't THAT flat. It's sort of- _"DAMN IT!" Naruto shot up and began to hit his head, "I will not think of those things! I am not a pervert!"

"You know," Sakura said, a smile playing on her lips, "It's not really uncommon for a boy to think those things." She leaned against him, "At all." She said into his ear.

"Sakura," Naruto said, "remember that thing you told me the other night about hormone and things?" She nodded, "Yeah well, if you don't stop I will probably suffocate you by kissing you too much." _Among other things!_

Sakura laughed and walked away, Naruto sighed and followed her.

"You're cute when you do that." She smiled at his blush.

The two continued to walk deeper into town, while a certain Uchiha was busy trying to find a girl he wouldn't have to commit suicide to date with.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Grammar mistakes fixed.

-A little bit of the dialogue has been changed, with a new conversation between Naruto and Sakura at the end instead of the one in place in the un-revised chapter.


	9. A Date not with Destiny

REWRITTEN

Notes (03/26/19): Like I said in my previous notes for this chapter, this is mostly a filler chapter, and I was really thinking about deleting it, but there was only ONE reason I kept it, and that was because it established Sasuke's love interest (An interesting choice I picked back then). Seriously that is the only reason. Anyway, I will try to fix up my dated sense of humor.

Thank you and enjoy!

(Konoha Downtown)

Sasuke was on a mission today, and that mission was to find some girl to date. He of course knew Sakura and Naruto weren't serious, but he had to prove them wrong and show the world that he could manage to find some girl to go out with. This of course, meant that it couldn't be one of his fan girls; he had suffered enough because of them.

He had just made this very difficult for himself.

It was now a little over noon and he had about eight hours to find someone. He knew no one who he could ask out, and was wondering what the best approach would be. He could say he was an Uchiha and probably have about fifty women standing in front of him, but those, again, would be fan girls, which he despised.

"I hate you Naruto." He muttered under his breath. _He got an easy way out of something this humiliating_.

The sun was now up and it was the warmest time of day, meaning many people would be out and about doing different activities. Many shops were up and their owners were trying to get people to go into their shops sometimes unsuccessfully.

Sasuke turned towards one food stand that Naruto had gotten him addicted to - Ichiraku. He walked in and said, "Good to see you Teuchi-" He looked left and right, not seeing the man, a girl came out from the back and noticed him.

"Ah, Father isn't feeling well today, so he had me work." She said, "How many I help you?"

Sasuke looked deep in thought before it popped into his head, "You're that Ayame girl right?" She nodded, and gave him a smile. Ayame had started working there a little less than a year ago, she had went to a ninja academy, but found that she didn't like it very much and went to Konoha's civilian school instead, they taught the basics and some more advance things, like any other usual school.

"Yep. We've met several times before." She went to the cooking area behind her and called, "Do you want your usual?"

Sasuke gave her a confused look and said, "Do you know what I usually get?"

"Yep, father has a note right here saying what you and your two friends like. You're his favorite and most common customers here." She moved over allowing him to see the note. Sasuke just nodded, somewhat freaked out that Teuchi would write something like that.

"I see." Sasuke said.

She looked over and asked, "So where are your two friends?"

"They're together somewhere probably laughing their asses off right about now." His head fell on the counter in front of him, "They're going on a date tonight apparently and want me to find some girl, within the next eight hours to go with them with," He looked up, "They don't think I'll do it," He began to whisper now, "But I'll prove them wrong."

Ayame gave him a weird look but shook it off, "So, who do you have in mind?"

"Do you-" Sasuke began to ask, but she laughed.

"No! I already have a boyfriend, but thanks for asking anyways." Sasuke's head fell back down on the counter. "Want some advice?" She said grinning, "If you've never met the girl, you've got to impress her first, not just ask her out of the blue, that will freak her out! You have to get to know her!"

Sasuke looked deep in thought, _Impress her? I guess I could say that I am-_

"And you can't say your family name to them, Uchiha." She gave him a cute smile when he looked up at her with despair in his eyes.

"Then how should I go about this? I am not going to go buy flowers, go up to the girl and say, 'will you please go out with me tonight?'" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

She shook her head, "Of course not! She'll put you in the 'freak' category then, unless of course you're cute enough. With your attitude though, No one will fall for it."

Sasuke looked upward and thought out loud, "I could always spar them or something?"

"If a girl likes that then you can I guess." She said, giving him another one of her weird looks.

"Right!" Sasuke said, pounding his fist into his palm, "Now the only problem is finding said girl." His happy smile suddenly turned back to a frown, "Damn it."

Ayame put some ramen in front of him, "Why not just go find several girls to your liking and asking them if you want to hang out? Don't check them out though; they'll think you're a freak if you do that. Just look for one that seems to like the same things you do or have a similar personality."

Sasuke thought to Naruto and Sakura, "Eh, a similar personality?"

"Something that's alike, it shouldn't be an exact carbon copy of yourself, just someone you can imagine yourself being with for more than a day. If you can manage that I guess that's the first step to finding the right girl." She said, then a thoughtful look came across her face as she said, "Don't you have a horde of girls wanting to date you already?"

Sasuke spat the ramen currently in his mouth out as he glared at her, "You think I'd be willing to go with those insane things?!"

"Ah! Sorry, I didn't know you didn't like having a fan group." Ayame said, fanning her hands in front of herself, as if to get rid of his burst of anger.

"I guess I'll take your advice and go find some girl that somewhat fits my attitude." He finished his ramen almost as fast as Naruto would. "I'll be heading out now." He got up, "Please wish me luck."

She waved him goodbye and dropped her smile when he was gone. "He's doomed." She sighed and began to clean up the mess he had left. "Wait! He forgot to pay! Damn! Father is going to take this out of my check!"

(Konoha Park)

"Sakura-chan, do you think Sasuke will find a girl still?" It had been almost a half hour since they had made the bet and had separated from Sasuke, and since then they had wandered around an eighth of the village.

The park they had wandered into was a decent place – actually where they were transported to when they came back from the future. Many families were having picnics, and children were playing various sports. The two of them just walked on the grass, watching the others do their activities.

"Sure he will." She said confidently, "He'll just break down and get one of his fan girls, that's all."

"I just hope they won't act like you did around him." Naruto sighed, "That was a real pain in the ass."

Sakura glanced at the small boy and asked menacingly, "What did I act like around him?" A grin came onto her face when she held onto his arm tightly and smashed her cheek into his and asked, "Something like this?"

Naruto, who felt slight pain from how tight she was holding him, and her cheek against his sighed, in the previous timeline he would have died for this, now he began to understand how Sasuke felt. "Y-Yes." He managed to get out, "Something like this."

She loosened her hold on his arm, but didn't let go, and she got her face off of his. "What do you think a normal girl would do to their boyfriend then?"

"Well, how we usually act together is what I suspect it is like." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "I'm not sure though, I usually ignored couples when I was a kid."

She glanced at him, "Why's that?"

He shrugged, "Envy I guess."

She held him tighter, "That's so cute." She whispered to him, "Are you envious now?"

He grinned at her and said, "Hell no, I think everyone else is envious of us! I know I would be if Sasuke and I traded places right now!" He planted a quick kiss on her lips and said, "I'm glad you won't pound my head into the ground for doing that."

"Why would I?" She questioned.

They stopped under the shade of a tree that they walked towards and sat down against the tree right next to each other, "Well, if I even attempted that in the other timeline I'm sure I'd be in the hospital for several months at least." She giggled at that, not at all denying it.

"We were so weird back then." She sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder.

To anyone who didn't know that the children came from a different timeline, this conversation would have definitely appeared to be 'weird' for what was there that a twelve-year-old child can remember? Of course, an eighteen-year-old child doesn't have it much better either.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "I'm glad Sasuke brought us back in time to this one. It allows us to change so many things for the better and," He turned towards her, "it allows our relationship to get a head start."

"Yeah," She sighed, the warmth of the air, and the comfortable position both of them were in were beginning to make them sleepy. "The Chunin exams are starting soon." She yawned.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, Gaara is going to come soon. I wonder how we should greet him. He is still insane remember, so don't do anything to him that will make him want to harm you."

"Naruto." Sakura sent him a glare, "I'm not a useless little girl anymore, and he won't be able to trap me when we have to fight him this time around. Sasuke and I both will be by your side to help fight him off. With us three we can easily overpower him and save the Hokage."

"No." Naruto sighed, "Gaara, no, Shukaku underestimated me a lot when we fought, and because of his stupidity I was able to get rid of him relatively quickly before anything too bad could happen." He looked serious for once, "If all of us fight him, Shukaku will not underestimate us."

Sakura sighed, "Well now you're just making the mood depressing," She pouted crossing her arms.

Naruto smiled, as if forgetting all he had said, "Ah! Sorry Sakura-chan, I was just ranting. I'm sure we'll do well."

Sakura grinned and pulled him closer to her body, simply enjoying the moment with her boyfriend. Soon after she fell asleep, allow Naruto to hold her. He glanced down and brushed some hair out of her face. _Heh, I truly am lucky._

_As for Sasuke, _He looked up at the bright summer sky; _I wonder exactly what he's up to now._

(Downtown Konoha)

"Freak!" A woman shouted hitting the ninja straight across the face with her purse. Sasuke twisted in his fall and managed to land on his feet, but was quickly tripped by the girl's friend, and they both ran off. Thankfully he managed to catch himself before his whole body hit the ground.

Sasuke glared at their retreating forms. _Okay. I really hate this. _He pulled himself off the ground and dusted off his Chunin vest. "This could go better."

"It could." A voice said to his left, he glanced over and saw another girl.

"You here to trip me and make sure I actually fall?" He asked, turning completely towards her. _Who is this girl? She looks pretty familiar._

She wore Chinese style clothing, with a sleeveless pink shirt, and baggy black pants. She had two Kunai pouches, one on each leg, and a belt with several scrolls. Her eyes were a chocolate brown color, and her hair was tied up into buns.

"Nah!" She said smiling, "Your attempts to get woman are laughable at best. Who gave you advice?"

Sasuke looked down; a gloomy aura surrounded his body, "Yeah, I figured that out myself now," he glanced up, "So, who are you?"

"Tenten!" She said giving him another smile, "And you are?"

"Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke." He held out his hand, and she accepted it.

"You're the so called, 'last Uchiha' then? I didn't think you'd be looking for a date like some desperate puppy. Your reputation would make it seem like you're some rich broody kid who does nothing."

Sasuke stared at her in disbelief, "That is your mental image of me?"

"Yep!" She chirped happily, she laughed as Sasuke's face fell once more, "So why are you looking for a date?"

Sasuke glanced at her and said, "Two reasons." He held up two fingers, "One, Sakura and Naruto, my two teammates, forced me to reduce myself to this and find a girl to go on a date with them tonight or they claim that they'll do many uncalled for things. Two," He lowered one finger and a small blush was almost visible on his face, "My clan won't revive itself any time soon."

"I see." Tenten said and walked forth, "Well, good luck! I hope you do end up finding the so called girl of your dreams!"

Sasuke sighed and was about to walk away, but turned and jumped at her feet and plead, "PLEASE! Help me! I can't do this! I admit that much!"

Tenten glanced down at the boy and began to laugh, she tried to hold it in to show respect, but failed and began to laugh out loud, so hard in fact that she fell to the ground and rolled around on the dirty road. Sasuke just watched on, knowing that his reputation was going away with each second, not that he really cared anyways.

"Sorry, sorry!" She said, getting off the ground along with Sasuke, "It's so funny to see a 'prodigy' such as yourself go and do that."

"I get that sometimes." He sighed, dusting his vest off.

Tenten looked at his Chunin vest and said, "So you're a Chunin already? Didn't your class just graduate the academy today?"

"Yes, my class did. I and my two teammates were taken out three years ago because we were far more advanced than any of our classmates." Sasuke said, "Kakashi-sensei thought we were good enough and-." He looked up and noticed her face turned to a panicked one. "Did I-"

She covered his mouth and looked around, "Don't say that name out loud around me or my team. Our sensei is insane and seems to hold some kind of grudge against that guy." She released her hand when she knew her sensei wasn't around.

"Who is your sensei?" Sasuke asked, he had forgotten over time.

"Gai-sensei." She said, "He's a good person, but he can be so idiotic sometimes that it's pathetic."

Sasuke chuckled, "Sounds like a friend of mine…"

Tenten washed the thought away from her head and glanced at him and said, "So you're a Chunin already? You're good, I'm a year older than you and I'm still a Genin… Are the missions any better than the D-ranked ones?"

"Much better." His eye twitched a little at the mere mention of a D-rank mission, "Taking out thugs is much better than walking dogs, catching cats, picking weeds, and all of those things."

"I hope Gai-sensei puts us in the Chunin exams this time." She pouted, "The last two he didn't let us enter because we weren't ready, I bet it's because of Lee. If he could actually do Ninjutsu and Genjutsu we could go much quicker."

Sasuke definitely remembered Lee, he was the kid that knocked him down a few pegs before the Chunin exams last time, and was really weird, "Don't say that." He spoke up, "Lee is very powerful. I'm pretty sure he could beat you and Neji."

"How'd you know about Neji?" She asked, forgetting about the topic at hand, "I didn't tell you his name."

"Eh, Hinata - She told us about him. She's his cousin and all, and she has told us about the 'special' love they have for each other." Sasuke said, telling a little lie, _I hope she doesn't go and ask Hinata now._

Tenten sighed, "Ah yes, got to love that part of Neji." She walked forward leaving Sasuke behind. When she was a fair distance ahead she turned around and called, "Are you coming?"

"Eh?!" Sasuke said unintelligently, and quickly ran forth to her, "Sure. Where are we going?"

Tenten led them into a rather large park and turned towards him. She grabbed a scroll off of her belt and said, "Let's spar!"

Sasuke smirked, _and Ayame thought that this wouldn't work!_ He grabbed a Kunai out of the pouch on his right leg. "Ready when you are." He stated, getting prepared.

Tenten nodded and threw the scroll in the air, suddenly several hundred or so weapons appeared out from the scroll they were sealed into. Sasuke took this time to quickly activate his Sharingan. Right at that moment, Tenten jumped in the air and quickly grabbed weapon after weapon and threw them at Sasuke, who easily managed to weave his way through all of them and tossed his kunai so it pierced the scroll that was floating down to the ground, pinning it against a tree.

Tenten looked at him and sighed, "You have a Bloodline like Neji does, I hate fighting against him." She grabbed another scroll and took out a Bo Staff that was sealed in it and stood ready.

_I remember her now._ "You're a weapon master it seems. Have you learned to master all the weaponry in this village?" Sasuke asked, pulling out two Kunai to fight with now.

"Heh," She laughed slightly, "Pretty much. Just a few things I need to improve a little, and this is one of them!" She said charging at him.

Sasuke twisted out of her path and threw another Kunai at her, which she swatted down like a fly so it wouldn't pierce the wood of the staff. She began to twirl it around and ran at him again. Right before she was in front of Sasuke, she jumped up and slamming the tip of the staff down where Sasuke stood only seconds before, an explosion occurred in that area.

"I missed!"

Sasuke stared into the hole where he would be if that had hit him, "Are you trying to kill me? Putting chakra into your weapons is creative, I admit, but that could have caused some serious damage!"

"Stop crying, you're not going to impress anyone like that. Besides you have those eyes of yours." Tenten called out to him.

Sasuke deflected two Shuriken she threw as she charged again. He stood his ground and as she jumped to do the same technique, he jumped and grabbed the staff, twisting it out of her hands and tossing it to the ground. He then grabbed her wrist and tossed her to the ground. He landed quickly and glanced around to see if she was ok.

She got up, a little bit of blood was coming out of her mouth, but otherwise it was ok. "You're not going too easy either." She coughed a little.

"I learned a long time ago to never underestimate my opponents, male or female." He said, grinning at her, "So just because you're a girl doesn't mean you will win easily."

"That's what I expect." She grinned and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasuke turned around and grabbed the Kunai that was about to be stabbed into his back. She looked surprised that he managed to catch that and jumped back.

Seeing the confusion on her face Sasuke called out, "My eyes slows things down, if you will, and makes it easier for me to adjust against opponents. I heard you coming behind me and I turned around quick enough to get you off guard." He tossed a Kunai to the ground, "If I had wanted, I could have killed you right there. Of course, I'm pretty sure I'd get in too much trouble and Hokage-sama definitely wouldn't want that now."

"Not like you'd get into too much trouble." She mumbled.

"What?" Sasuke called out, only hearing a part of what she said.

She looked away, "It's nothing." She glanced back up, and saw him right in her face looking into her eyes with his red ones. This of course scared the hell out of her and caused her to trip back down to the ground. "What the hell!" She shouted, getting back up.

"Ayame said that to get close to a girl I have to learn about them, and if they're similar to me then I have a shot." Sasuke told her directly. Tenten could feel her face burning up.

"Y- you want to get close to me?" She said, "Why?! I have known you for like, a half hour now, if even!"

Sasuke shrugged, "Have to start somewhere." He smiled and said, "So, what did you say earlier?" Naruto had taught Sasuke, that smiling, even if you didn't feel like it, would help whoever you were with open up their feelings for you. Saying something about they would feel more secure or something. Sasuke didn't really pay attention to Naruto during his rant.

"I said, 'Not like you'd get into trouble'." She sighed, "For killing me I mean."

Sasuke squatted down on the ground, supporting himself with both his arms behind him and asked, "Why's that exactly? You're not into death or something like that, because that'd be kind of creepy."

"No!" She said, sitting down herself across from Sasuke, "I'm an orphan. I don't have any parents, and I don't even know my last name," She sighed, "Why am I even telling you this?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know, why are you?" He put the question back in her face.

Tenten stared at him for a moment before sighing once more, "You're weird." Sasuke nodded, he knew he was weird after all, "You want me to go on your silly little date with your two friends who I have never met, and we have only knew each other for not even an hour. Now you're prying into my personal life."

"No." he responded, "I'd be prying if I asked for your measurements." Sasuke learned that after saying that that you should NEVER say that to someone you just met, because his face met the ground in about as long as it takes for Naruto eat ramen.

"Gah! I now know why those girls hit you to the ground, you damn pervert! Your Uchiha status isn't going to swing me over to your side you know!" She replied, her face blushing once more.

Sasuke considered what she said and asked, "Then what would?"

Sasuke knew he was beginning to act very out of his character, but this was actually the first woman he thought he could spend more than two hours with, and he didn't want to lose this chance.

"I don't know," She sighed, "Look, if I go with you on this date thing will you never ever ask me out again?" She said with a little hope in her eyes.

Sasuke nodded, "Sure." _Score! Take that Naruto!_

"When are you coming to pick me up?" She sighed grabbed a used scroll and a pen seemingly out of nowhere, "I'll write down my address here."

"Eight." He responded, "Please, be ready by the time I get there. Don't dress too formally either; I doubt Naruto or Sakura will."

Tenten looked in thought for a moment, "Is Sakura the girl with pink hair?"

"Yep." Sasuke answered, grabbing the scroll that Tenten was handing towards him, "Really smart, one of my teammates. I doubt she could match Shikamaru's intelligence though."

"Who's Shikamaru?" Tenten asked sympathetically, knowing this was probably getting on Sasuke's nerve, asking who all these people were.

"No one important until next month. Pray that you don't go against him." He said, "He can get out of almost anything given how smart he is."

Tenten nodded, "Eh, ok. See you tonight."

Sasuke disappeared that second, giving her no warning. After a few moments of standing in the middle of a field she muttered, "Why do I feel like I made a pact with the devil?"

(Uchiha District)

Sasuke took almost an hour to find Naruto, who was too busy sleeping with his girlfriend under a tree to notice Sasuke had arrived in front of them. Sasuke shook Naruto awake and dragged him to the Uchiha District, leaving a groggy Sakura in their banks, Naruto tried to go and tell Sakura that he was leaving, but Sasuke's grip held him for too long, and it became pointless.

Now the two boys were in the Uchiha district, or as both of them liked to call it, home. Naruto broke out of Sasuke grip finally and asked, "What's going on?"

"I need your help." Sasuke immediately admitted.

"And you know what! Sakura is probably-!" He turned to Sasuke, "What did you just say?"

Sasuke sighed, "I need your help." He responded once again.

Naruto looked at him in a confused matter, and looked up to the sky, just to make sure it wasn't falling. "I see. With what exactly?"

"I managed to get a girl to come with me." Sasuke said, a grin on his face knowing Naruto was going to be fairly surprised.

Naruto was more than surprised, his face was frozen in one position and he stopped at breathing and body movement for near a minute. Frankly, Sasuke was beginning to get concerned, so he poked his friend and watched as he fell to the ground laughing. Sasuke only glared at Naruto during his huge laughing fit.

"Are you finished yet?" Sasuke called down to him.

"Hold on, hold on! You're telling me you actually found someone? I bet you broke down and went to a fan girl didn't you." Naruto said, beginning to get up.

Sasuke quickly tripped him and said, "No, I managed to get a girl named Tenten. You may remember her."

"Tenten?" Naruto muttered, "You're going out with that weapon girl? She's creepy and insane! She loves weapons like they're her children and you should see how she," He looked around and whispered, "Killed people with the Shuriken, it was not a very pretty sight when we caught up to them."

"Then again," Naruto thought, "You're pretty insane too, so it might work out. Though, she ended up going out with Neji in the previous timeline. I wonder what poor Neji will do this time around."

Sasuke looked at Naruto and said, "Screw the last timeline, I doubt that Hinata girl always followed Shikamaru all over the place like she does now."

"True." Naruto nodded, "Poor Shikamaru, he won't have to put up with a 'troublesome' Temari if this goes where I think it is."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Not like I can tell her that she was with Neji in a non-existent timeline to her. She'll probably think I'm insane if I do that." Naruto shrugged again, "Well, it's an interesting person you got. Now I lost five hundred ryou. You don't happen to have any money do you?"

"Naruto!" Sasuke shook his friend's shoulders, "I need help, I don't know what to do in these kinds of situations! I can kill an army, I can go steal some important documents, but I have learned that I completely suck when it comes to women."

"Well," Naruto was about to say, but an unintelligent sound rolled out of his mouth. "Um…" He looked very deep in thought, "You know, maybe I'm not the best person to ask for this. This is actually my first time dating too."

Sasuke sighed in frustration, "I thought I could actually learn something from you, and instead I learn that I can't learn anything from you and I wasted an hour to find you!"

Naruto shrugged and put his arm over Sasuke's shoulder, "I think just wear something nice, and don't do anything too stupid, and you'll manage to make it out alive or somewhat intact at least."

"I can hardly wait." Sasuke muttered, knowing he wasn't going to enjoy this.

(Later that Night, Haruno Residence)

The two had gotten prepared and realized that they still had several hours on their hands. Not feeling like doing anything too productive during those hours, and knowing the next day would be filled with even more fun ANBU training, they sat in the living room and played board games and the like for near five hours. Afterwards they prepared once more for their dates, not wanting all the intenseness of playing board games to ruin their appearance.

Naruto wore a white shirt with a gray button up shirt over it, and tan colored shorts. He discarded his Chunin vest and headband, knowing that he wouldn't need it. He looked at himself in the mirror, deciding that it would be best not to have anyone throw them out; he cast a little Genjutsu on his whisker marks, making them go away.

Sasuke had done pretty much exactly what Naruto had done and wore a white shirt with an Uchiha marked button up shirt over it. He wore darker shorts than Naruto, but pretty much the same thing. Both of them wore their ninja sandals knowing, that if anything bad did happen, their feet wouldn't be cramped in shoes.

Finally the two stood in front of Sakura's house once more. Naruto quickly rang the doorbell, and the door opened to reveal Sakura's mother.

"Hello Mrs. Haruno, is Sakura ready yet?" Naruto asked kindly.

She looked down at Naruto then her eyes went to Sasuke and asked, "What is Sasuke doing with you two?"

"Oh! We're doing a double date thing; he actually managed to find someone." Naruto said grinning, "It surprised me to be honest." He admitted. Sasuke sent him another glare.

Mrs. Haruno nodded, "Ok, Sakura will be done in a little bit. She's getting kind of carried away right now."

"Oh really?" Naruto replied, "How carried away?" He knew she would dress somewhat nicely, but was praying she didn't take it too far and make his preparation look like nothing. Of course, she was a woman, so it was probably natural.

"Would you two like to come in?" She invited, opening the door for the two of them. Both noticed a difference in her character, she didn't seem to hug them or anything related to that.

When they walked in and sat at the kitchen table Sasuke voiced his concern, "Are you ok Mrs. Haruno?"

"I'm fine. I'm just worried that Sakura may be going too quickly with you is all." She sighed, "I'm glad Sasuke is going to be keeping an eye on both of you though."

"Is Naruto here already?" Sakura called from upstairs.

"Nope. Sasuke's here too Sakura-chan, take your time!" Naruto shouted up, only to hear a loud sigh come from there. "You nearly done?"

It took a little bit before she called out again, "Pretty much. I'm coming down now."

She walked down the first they saw of her was her shoes, which thankfully weren't fancy, just normal sandals, she seem to have the same chain of thought they had, probably some ANBU behavior. When she came all the way down, Naruto gave her thumbs up, and smiled. She blushed slightly before walking over to him and Sasuke.

She wore a white skirt that went down to her knees, and a white sleeveless shirt as well. Over her shirt she wore a pink jacket that she left unbuttoned, and she had obviously fixed her hair up, it was like a pink mirror for the lights of the house reflected right off of it.

"Do I look good?" She twirled around, and watched their reactions.

Sasuke nodded, "Fine." He said.

"You look beautiful as always Sakura-chan," Naruto answered, she rewarded him with a kiss. Sasuke noticed from the corner of his eye that Sakura's mom tensed when that happened. He'd have to store that memory for later.

"You look handsome too." She whispered into his ear, which made his smile ever larger, if that was humanly possible.

Sasuke watched the whole exchange and took some mental notes of it, figuring they could come in handy with his date. "You two ready to go?"

Both of them nodded, and Sakura took the time to ask, "So, who did you ask out Sasuke?" She held out an open palm behind Naruto's back, to which Naruto begrudging gave her Five hundred ryou.

"Tenten." Sasuke replied. Naruto and Sasuke walked out, but turned around to see a still frozen Sakura standing there. "You alright Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto walked over and grabbed her hand; she quickly shook her head clear and tightened her grip on Naruto's hand.

"You're going out with Tenten?" She asked, not waiting for an answer she then asked, "Why Tenten? I thought you were just going to go with Ino."

Sasuke's eye twitched for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He sighed once more and said, "She seemed like a nice girl." He responded, "And I will not go out with a fan girl."

"You're making this a lot harder on yourself Sasuke," Sakura said, "If you picked a fan girl at least they would lead you through the whole process. Tell you what! Naruto and I will help you two!" Naruto gave her a nervous glance.

"Both of us?" Naruto asked.

Sakura nodded and grinned at him, "Yes, is there anything wrong with that?"

"Eh, of course not." He answered back.

Sakura shook her head, "See you later mom, I'll be home around in two, three, maybe four hours." She walked out the door.

_I hope she isn't gone that long. I might pass out from worrying too much,_ the older woman thought, "Well. What should I do now?" She glanced around the house and began to look for something to do.

(Tenten's Apartment)

The three walked to a decent looking apartment complex. It was three stories tall, and according to Sasuke, Tenten was on the second story. Outside the building there was a large set of stairs leading to each floor, and then it was like a deck for that floor with all the doors going onto it.

"This place looks much nicer than my old apartment." Naruto commented.

"That's an understatement." Sakura muttered.

Sasuke was a little ahead of them and then stopped in front of a door. "This looks like it's it." He knocked several times and called out, "Tenten, I'm here."

"Be right there!" She called out, "I'm almost done."

Sasuke shrugged and leaned against the door he took a note out of Naruto's book and called, "Take your time." He glanced at Naruto who gave him thumbs up.

Sakura and Naruto both leaned on the railing of the deck they were standing on and looked at the darkening sky. "The sunset is going to look very beautiful tonight." Sakura whispered to Naruto.

"Yeah." Naruto responded. The sky was a dark purple color right above them, and out in the horizon it was slowly turning orange. The sun itself was barely visible in their view. "Too bad we don't live near an ocean or something." Naruto sighed.

Sakura nodded and looked down at Naruto and noticed something quickly wrong with him, "Naruto, Why are you hiding your whisker marks?"

Naruto glanced at her, "What?" He asked dumbly, hoping she'd get the hint to drop the subject.

"Naruto, why'd you do that? They looked good on you." She sighed, and was about to dispel the Genjutsu when Naruto grabbed her hands.

"I want us to have a good time tonight, and I don't think being thrown out of all the places we want to go to will be very fun." Naruto answered, "I know some may recognize me, but most adults know exactly what I am when they see them." He released her hands.

She quickly undid the jutsu before Naruto had a chance to stop her. "I don't want to be with people who hate you for something you have no power over anyway." She said to him. "Besides, they're too cute to cover up."

Naruto sighed, still not too happy about her decision. "Well. I wonder when Tenten will-" Sakura turned his head and quickly gave him a rather large kiss straight on the lips, after a few moments of the initial shock to wear off, Naruto quickly took the lead.

Sasuke watched the display, noting everything that they did, like Sakura running her hand through Naruto's hair, "You're only twelve." He reminded them, to which they quickly jumped apart blushing madly. "Do that when I'm not around at least." He sighed. Suddenly the door opened behind him and he quickly fell inward, landing on the back of his head.

Tenten who had jumped out of the way of the falling boy walked to his side and said,"You know, you could have said that you were leaning on my door."

"I was too distracted." Sasuke mumbled.

"You look good Tenten." Sakura spoke up; looking at the clothes she was wearing. Tenten had on a very light blue dress that stopped at her knees, and was sleeveless. She, like Sakura, had worn a jacket, however hers was white. Her colors were not near as bright and noticeable as Sakura's, but that was probably the whole point. She had her hair down for the occasion too; it was as clean as Sakura's, and fell down to around her shoulders, unlike Sakura's which went to her mid back.

Naruto held out his hand, "Nice to meet you." Tenten smiled and shook it, as Sasuke got up from the ground.

"Tenten, uh, chan," He looked at her with a questioning glance, obviously asking if it was ok to call her that, she nodded so he continued, "This one, wearing gray is Naruto, and the other, wearing pink is Sakura. Though I'm sure you could have figured that out."

"Nice to meet you, Sakura, Naruto." She addressed both of them. "So, what are we going to do for tonight?" She asked kindly.

Naruto grabbed Sakura's hand making sure to do it within Sasuke's eyesight and said, "We were planning on going out to eat together and decide what to do after that."

Tenten nodded, "Ok, sounds good, where are we going to eat?"

"We're going to look around, Naruto and I will go in first and make sure the place is friendly, and if it's not we'll head back out and pick a different place." Sakura explained.

Sasuke knew what it was about and nodded. He then grabbed Tenten's hand and looked at her for a reaction, when he saw her glance down at their crossed hands and blush slightly he sighed within his mind. _Ok, managed to do that. _He congratulated himself.

A little bit after making sure they were situated, they left the apartment.

(Downtown Konoha)

The lights of the village were all beginning to go on now, and the streets were filled with many different kinds of people. Gamblers, entertainers, venders, and young couples like the four walking together now. It was like a village wide party, at least until it got too late.

Naruto and Sakura glanced around, and after debating on which place to go into they picked one. It looked very fancy, thank god he and Naruto were ANBU, or this might actually have put a huge dent in their income for several months.

"You two wait out here." Sakura said, turning to Sasuke and Tenten, "We'll check the place out."

Sasuke and Tenten nodded, both standing right outside of the place. "So, Sasuke, how are you feeling right now?" Tenten started, hoping to spark up some conversation.

"I'm fine." He said, glancing at her, "And you, Ten-chan?"

Tenten grinned at her new nickname, "Ten-chan?"

Sasuke, knowing she found nothing wrong with it allowed himself to smile, "Yeah, it sounds better than Tenten-chan." He awarded himself a imaginary pat on the back as her cheeks reddened.

"I guess it does." She agreed, looking down at the ground.

"Tenten?" A voice called from the crowd in the streets. She looked up to see someone she hadn't expected to meet until the next day.

"Neji? What are you doing here?" She asked, a little confused.

Sasuke took one glance at Neji and inwardly groaned, he looked exactly the same. He stood with his arms crossed and a glare on his face; as if he knew he was superior to everyone around him. He was just the same._ Why do I have to see him here? Just don't let him notice me._

"Who's the kid?" He asked, pointing at Sasuke.

"Oh, this is someone I met earlier today; we're on a date now." Tenten said, wrapping both her arms around Sasuke's arm.

_She didn't seem willing to want to come earlier this afternoon, _Sasuke thought to himself, _but now it's as if she's enjoying herself. I hope it's not an act to appease my friends._

"Dating? Tenten, you've much more important things to do than date. The Chunin exams are going to occur soon. You're only making your abilities worse by doing this." Neji said, almost as if he was completely against the ideal of fun.

"Hey, you know you don't always have to train, being a ninja doesn't mean that all you have to focus on is your job." Sasuke spoke up, "Just go and leave us alone."

Neji smirked, "And what are you going to do about it?"

"Do you really want to find out?" Sasuke said, not dropping into his fighting stance, knowing that it would be a 'bad move' as Naruto would put it during a date.

"Gladly." Neji said as he made his hand fly forward and try to hit a pressure point on Sasuke's body. Sasuke reacted almost immediately and twisted out of the way and grabbed his wrist, almost snapping it if he didn't have enough control.

A smile appeared on Sasuke's face as he asked, "Do you want to continue, Genin?" He didn't want the Hyuuga to know he was an Uchiha just yet, if at all. It would definitely have made his little victory sweeter though.

"Both of you stop it!" Tenten said, getting in-between the two of them.

_I was only going to hit one point, but he was able to do that without me being able to notice until my wrist was about to be snapped, _"What rank are you?"

"What's it to you?" Sasuke asked.

"You're much higher in skill than I am. At your age I would expect you to be a Genin, but you fight with the skill of a Chunin, maybe even better." Neji admitted, "I would probably have to activate my Byakugan to defeat you."

Sasuke grinned, "You couldn't beat me with it either."

"Oh?" Neji accused.

Sasuke nodded,"You'll always be weak. From what I have learned from you just now and earlier today, I can conclude that you don't work with your teammates at all. This is sorely to your disadvantage, and will make you weak. Ninja are split into three man units so they have enough people to work with, and watch their own back. To be able to accomplish this, you must trust, and to trust, you must work together. See where I am going with this?"

Neji may have acted professional before now he yelled, "Do you know what I have been put through my life? It was nowhere as bad as your life! Trusting is harder than just saying a few words!"

"I have gone through hard times," Sasuke exclaimed, "Actually, I guess we both have something in common. I lost my father too." Sasuke smiled at the shocked face Neji had now, "But not only my father, no, I lost much more - My clan. That includes my mother, grandparents, cousins, and my brother."

Neji's eyes widened when he realized who Sasuke was now, "Uchiha." He muttered.

"You want to know what though? I managed to get over it and learn to trust my two teammates again. Yes, it was tough opening up, but once you do, you'll find a different family, one much closer than the one you already have."

Neji looked down. He truly did want to strike down the Uchiha in front of him where he stood, but that could get him into huge trouble. Another side of him was telling himself to listen to the boy, and take what he said to heart. "What is your name Uchiha?"

"Sasuke." He replied, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Neji nodded, "Sasuke, I will keep your words in mind; I will take my leave now. Please Tenten, enjoy your date." He walked away, almost as if he was sulking.

"Wow," Tenten muttered, "No one has managed to make Neji look that down in, Well, ever."

"He needed it." Sasuke replied, "You could get seriously injured because of his stupidity."

Tenten glanced at Sasuke, "You think he'll take your advice?"

"Yep. It doesn't matter though, I'll train you if you'd like." Sasuke offered.

Tenten blushed again and nodded, "That would be nice." She grabbed his hand and smiled at him.

"That was some display Sasuke." Sakura called out, leaning on one side of the doorway to the restaurant, Naruto grinned at him from the other side.

"You were there for the whole thing?" Sasuke sighed, feeling it pointless to argue, "Is the place good for us all to eat at?"

Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah, they're way too fancy to notice such small details." Naruto grinned and led the group into the place.

(Near eleven that night, Tenten's apartment)

Naruto and Sakura had gone the other way and allowed Tenten and Sasuke some privacy when they walked each other to her place. The journey to her home was quiet and in a way relaxing. Both held each other's hand and walked side by side, like any real couple.

When they finally reached her home Sasuke spoke, "Well, that was it. You don't have to go out with me anymore." He turned to leave when she called out to him.

"Wait!" He stopped and turned to her, "Listen, I had a really good time, and well, you're a nice guy and all." She walked towards him; "I'd like to thank you for some things. Thanks for knocking Neji down a few pegs, and," She glanced away, a blush visible on her face, she then must have decided what she was going to do for she turned towards him again and planted a kiss right on his lips.

Sasuke was surprised, much like Naruto, and gave into it, allowing Tenten to lead; he wasn't an expert at these kinds of things anyway. Once they finally parted, due to lack of air, Sasuke spoke, "I take it we'll be seeing each other soon, Ten-chan?"

She blushed, but nodded anyways. "Yeah. Remember you offered to train me!"

"Oh yeah. After missions tomorrow I'll seek you out to do that." Sasuke grinned.

"You better." She turned towards her door, "Thanks for the good time," Before she entered, she glanced around the building and asked, "Would you like to stay for a little while?"

Sasuke glanced at the dark sky, it was eleven, and that in his book was late, but he smiled and said, "Sure Ten-chan."

The two entered, and Sasuke had to mentally check to make sure his hormones would stay in place, and not get the better of him that night. Thankfully, the thought of a twelve year old kid doing anything like his imagination was suggesting drove even him close to vomiting, considering he was over twenty years old mentally.

_Delete those images! Argh! _He thought to himself as he entered the house.

---END---

Documented changes:

-First thing I did when skimming through this was change the ending. I vaguely remember trying not to make it seem like Sasuke had sex, but it was STRONGLY suggested for merely being a mistake. Wow… That is fixed anyway.

-Fixed grammar errors. An interesting note: It seems that by this point I had gotten over my ellipses addiction. There were FAR fewer of them in this chapter than there were in previous chapters to remove.

-removed some redundant dialogue when Naruto and Sakura are in the park.


	10. The Chunin Exams finally begin!

REWRITTEN

(Konoha Training grounds)

"Good job, Ten-chan!" Sasuke said as he let go of the grab she was held in. "In a few years you might be up to my level!"

"That's good to know," Tenten sighed, landing on the ground, with Sasuke following close behind. It was midday, and it had been about three weeks and a half since the both of them had gotten together. It was only a couple of days until the Chunin exams would be occurring.

Gaara, and more importantly Orochimaru will be coming soon. Sasuke looked up towards Tenten, "I have to get going now. This is the last day I can train you as well, I need to prepare for the Chunin exams myself."

"But you're already Chunin, why would you prepare for it?" She asked.

"Because I will be one of the many people watching over the exam as it goes on. I'll be there to make sure you and everyone else will be safe." He said, giving her a smile.

She nodded, "That makes sense." She got up and helped Sasuke get up and said, "Well, I guess we won't have much time to see each other after today until the exams end." She looked slightly down.

"Don't worry," Sasuke lifted up her chin and kissed her, "I'll watch out for you."

She grinned and hugged him, "I know you will, just watch out for yourself too, because I'll be too busy to do it myself."

Sasuke nodded, "I know, and don't worry about that. I'm more than skilled enough to be beaten by anyone."

"Don't let all that power go to your head now!" She giggled slightly and tapped his head.

"Of course," He sighed and began to walk away, "Tenten, please be careful. The exams will not be easy."

Tenten rolled her eyes, "Yes Sasuke, I will. I promise."

Sasuke nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

(Hokage Tower)

Sarutobi sat at his desk once more like he would any day. In front of him stood Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and an empty spot was for Sasuke. This meeting would be to discuss the future plans of what to do during the exams, for the four, soon to be five people, in the room were the only ones who knew of the things that were going to pass.

Suddenly, several leaves flew into the room and twisted around one spot to the left of Naruto, who stood with Sakura on his right and Kakashi behind him. He, Sakura, and Kakashi all wore their ANBU gear, and like his students, Kakashi had removed his mask, finding no use of it any longer, for if his students were willing to let everyone know who they were, he was too.

Kakashi had advanced further in this Timeline than the last, or so his students told him. He had built upon his skills he had previously let rot if he hadn't been placed back in the ANBU as the captain of this small squad. He of course, could not say he didn't enjoy his time with the children.

Once Sasuke appeared in the room Sarutobi spoke, "Welcome Sasuke, you took your time."

Sasuke, who had taken a little extra time to get his ANBU uniform on replied, "Yes, I was busy helping Tenten out. This is the last day we had together and I wanted to review all that she had learned."

"And probably 'other' things as well." Naruto smiled at Sasuke's blush.

"LOOK!" He shouted at Naruto, "I didn't do anything with her that night! I just stayed the night at her house and slept with her!" Realizing what he said he sighed, "Not in that way!"

Naruto nodded,"Sure Sasuke, whatever you say."

When the silence came Sarutobi began to speak once more, "The Chunin exams are going to be held within three days, I'm sure you all are aware of this."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." All of them spoke professionally.

"Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke." He turned his gaze on them all; "Once this meeting is done I am going to place you all in charge of finding this years participants, and giving them this slip to write their name, village, and age. After that give it to me and I'll look them over. I have already given them to all the rookie team leaders and several other Genin squad leaders, I'll be sure to give you the list and name of them when they come in so you won't go to the same person twice."

Sakura spoke up, "Hokage-sama, what if we don't find anyone, or what if they enter the village just hours before the exam?"

Sarutobi smiled, "I'm surprised by how much you underestimate your own power. I believe you will find them all, and if worse comes to worse, simply hire more people to help in the search. Those that come late will not be listed for the exam, and thus will not participate this year."

"Thanks." Sakura said, knowing that what Sarutobi had said was a compliment.

"Ok, we've our assignment. Now we need to speak about what is going to occur." Sasuke said, "I suggest that you have your entire ANBU force active during the exams, for maximum security."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, and from what I am told, I'll make sure to lead the outer wall defenses if the need comes for it."

Naruto also took this moment to speak his mind, "We need Jiraiya to come here and be with you when the third stage of the exams is taking place. If we could also somehow find Tsunade and get her to come here as well, that would help immensely."

"I don't know about Tsunade, but I can get Jiraiya to get here. I haven't seen or heard from Tsunade in years." Sarutobi rubbed his head, "She has lost hope in this village and-"

Sakura interrupted him, "Sorry for being rude, but we know this already."

"Oh, yes." Sarutobi said grinning, "How could I forget where you all are from."

"This Gaara child. How big of a threat is he going to be?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto looked down, "Unlike Orochimaru, we can't kill Gaara. He's too important for the future of the Sand village, so that narrows down our options." He looked towards the ceiling, "I can't use Kyuubi's chakra at all during the fight, or else Shukaku will go full power and try stopping me, last time I managed to get lucky, but I don't want to take that chance again."

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "I remember that fight, I recall you with your giant toad friend turning in a Kyuubi look alike, why wouldn't that make Shukaku go to his full power?"

"It surprised Shukaku enough to lower his defenses so we could get in close and knock Gaara back into the world of consciousness." Naruto sighed, "This time, if I fight him, let alone all three of us, he won't be as easy to surprise because he'll be expecting many more things."

"A giant toad?" Sarutobi asked, "Are you talking about Gamabunta?"

Naruto smiled, "Yep. I tried summoning him, but it appears I can't do that in this timeline yet until I sign Jiraiya's toad contract in blood."

Sasuke sighed, "It's going to be tough getting the snake contract from Orochimaru this time around."

Sakura looked happy at the thought of seeing her summon again, "I can't wait to see Katsuyo again, she's such a sweet and kind summoned animal to have."

"Tsunade's slug contract?" Sarutobi guessed, to which Sakura nodded in confirmation.

"Wow. It seems you kids get more interesting everyday!" Kakashi laughed, "And to think that I thought I learned all about you already. I was about to offer you all my dog contract, but since you all have your sights on other things, I guess I'll take back my offer, seeing as you can only have one summon at a time."

Naruto grinned, "Thanks for the thought sensei."

"Back on topic now," Sarutobi said, "During the third stage, I am assigning you three to deal with Gaara." He pointed to Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. "Kakashi, like you said, you will help with the village defense, try to make sure nothing comes in, Sound or Sand."

They all nodded, "Please, during that time I want all of you to be careful. While I fight Orochimaru with Jiraiya, I will pray and make sure you all will be ok."

"Hokage-sama," Sakura said, "Orochimaru is going to appear during the second stage and try to find Sasuke."

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke said, "I plan on killing Orochimaru before the invasion begins."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, if all goes well, that snake bastard won't be doing anything important in this timeline at all, besides rotting in the Forest of Death."

"Remember though, do not underestimate him. He will still be very powerful. Stick together and I believe you three will be fine." Sarutobi said, "I believe we have all of the stages covered however. You three are dismissed, do not forget your assignments."

"Yes Hokage-sama." They all said before taking their leave.

Kakashi nodded at Sarutobi, "So, are we going to assist them in their hunt for Orochimaru in the second stage?"

"If they do end up finding Orochimaru and engage him in combat in the Forest of Death, wait several moments before going in yourself, we want him to be weakened before our main forces go for the kill, I don't want any more deaths than necessary, and I trust those three to deal with him until help arrives." Sarutobi said, "And do nothing about Gaara, he's the Kazekage's son I doubt he'll like it very much if his son is suddenly assassinated, even if it's Orochimaru in disguise, it could spark the war that they are planning."

Kakashi nodded, "That's true."

"I hope this will go according to plan." Sarutobi sighed, "I haven't the desire to see this village in ruins."

"Who else would?" Kakashi asked, "beside Orochimaru of course."

(Outside of the Uchiha District)

Naruto walked out of the Uchiha district wearing his Chunin vest, allowing the sunlight to hit his face as he let out a content sigh. Looking for all these kids entering the exam was going to be such a pain, but he knew that the old man was counting on him.

"What are you two waiting for?" Naruto called out to them.

Sasuke stepped out with Sakura barely a step behind, "This is going to be a pain in the ass, but to prove to Sarutobi we can be trusted, we have to do so." Sasuke sighed, "We should get to our task now."

"Yeah, let's do this as fast as possible," Sakura said. Suddenly a box exploded near them, three figures could be seen in the smoke.

"HA!" One yelled out, only managing to sound weird when it began to cough, "I think there's too much smoke." It said through its fits of coughing.

Naruto's eyes lit up, "Konohamaru is it?"

The kid jumped out and threw several wooden shuriken, "I am surprised you have heard of me!" The shuriken bounced off Naruto's chest easily, "It seems even enemy villages know us very well! You spy!" Konohamaru pointed at Naruto, "I heard everything that kid," He pointed to Sasuke then, "Said, you all are spies!"

Two other figures jumped to the side of Konohamaru, "I'm Moegi! The most beautiful female ninja to walk the earth!" A little girl cried out, her hair tied into two very weird looking shapes on her head.

"And I'm Udon! The most intelligent ninja to walk the face of this earth!" The kid to the other side said, he wore huge glasses and looked sick.

Sakura held in her laugh, and Sasuke faired no better. Naruto grinned as he went and patted Konohamaru's head, "I'm guessing you are going to try and tell Sarutobi this then?"

Udon got a good look at the three laughing ninja in front of them and said, "They look too young to be Chunin, they're probably just Genin pretending to be one."

Sasuke nodded, "Of course. You saw right through us, and now we'll leave." He turned to walk away, and turned back around when he noticed both Naruto and Sakura both staying to entertain the children. "We can also stay here for a little bit." He mumbled in annoyance as he walked back to his teammates.

"Who are you?" Konohamaru asked, his eyes widened, "Where did you steal the vest from? I want to play too!" He asked in rapid session.

Naruto laughed and said, "Heh, no Konohamaru, I didn't steal this vest, you can't get any, and I'm not playing." He got up and stood next to Sakura and Sasuke, he then flung his arms across both of their shoulders, "We're all Chunin of Konoha, we can all be considered very advanced students under Kakashi, otherwise known as Sharingan Kakashi."

Konohamaru gasped in recognition of the name, "You must be powerful! Can you train me?" He got in front of Naruto and began to beg, "Please Naruto-sensei!"

Udon and Moegi both got in the same position behind Konohamaru and began to chant what he was saying now,"Please Naruto-sensei! Please Naruto-sensei!"

"Ok." Naruto smiled, "The first lesson is to see how far you can run before any of us catch you." Naruto stood up, "You have a minute to get out of here before we chase you, and the one that lasts the longest will be considered your team leader." All of their eyes widened and looked at each other.

"We'll do it sensei!" Konohamaru shouted, Udon and Moegi were only one step behind him in his actions. "See you in a couple of hours Naruto-sensei!" they all shouted when they left the immediate area.

Sasuke sighed obvious amused by the children, "So, shall we begin our job now?"

"We have the capture the three of them first." Naruto spoke up, "Then we can begin our job. Has it been a minute yet?" He turned to Sakura.

Sakura stopped her mental time watch and said, "thirty seven seconds left. Who's going to catch who?"

"I'm going to get Konohamaru." Naruto said determinedly.

"I'll get the smartest kid on the planet then." Sasuke said.

"And I'll get the most beautiful woman on the planet." Sakura said as she held in her laugh once more.

They waited a little longer before Sakura shouted, "Now!"

The three of them split from their location all sprinting to the location they saw their target running. They could easily catch these children, but they figured they'd do this to befriend the children once more in this timeline, for it was a brotherly friendship Naruto and Konohamaru had in the previous timeline.

Naruto landed in a tree and his eyes widened at the sight he was seeing. It was a narrow road, and there was a large wooden fence going along the whole right side of the road, and it would eventually lead to the Hokage tower. Naruto quickly jumped down.

A boy stood holding Konohamaru in his hand; he wore a weird looking black suit with something on his back wrapped up in bandages. He wore purple face paint and looked quite annoyed with the child.

The girl next to him had a huge fan on her back and blonde hair that was tied in four different places giving it an odd look. Her blue eyes quickly went from the boy next to her and turned towards Naruto.

Konohamaru was struggling to get out of the grip he was held in by the boy in the black suit, "Let me go!" He turned and noticed Naruto, "Naruto! Help me!"

"Put him down now." Naruto ordered, his silliness was now gone for the moment, "he's the grandson of the Hokage, and you can get into huge trouble if you do any harm upon him, Kankuro."

Kankuro looked up in surprise, "How do you know my name kid?" He then noticed the outfit Naruto was in, "You're kidding me? You're a Chunin? You're only like twelve!"

Naruto closed his eyes and reopened them, they were now red and his world's view suddenly gained a red hue to it, "I am one of them." His eyes narrowed and he showed the fangs he now had in his mouth, "And I can be quite deadly."

Suddenly two figures appeared behind Sasuke and Sakura stood with their assigned targets in their hands, they noticed how serious Naruto seemed to be at the moment, so Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan, and Sakura began to gather chakra at her hands just incase.

"What's going on here?" Sasuke asked.

The girl next to Kankuro began to say, "S-sorry, my brother can be quite idiotic next time! We don't want to fight you; we're here for the exams."

Naruto laughed, "Is that so, Temari?" Her eyes widened when he said her name.

Kankuro dropped Konohamaru who ran to his two friends. Kankuro then was pulling the large item on his back saying, "You think you're so tough? I think I'll kick your ass and-"

Sand suddenly flew down and circled in an area near them all. Suddenly a red headed figure appeared there. His eyes had black surrounding them, because of lack of sleep, and he wore a huge gourd on his back. He looked at Kankuro and said, "You're an embarrassment to our village." He then faced Naruto and his friends, "I apologize for his behavior. He doesn't know when he's out powered."

Kankuro glared at the red haired child, but ceased to do it when he glared back, much more intense than before. "Gaara, I was only playing with their friend."

Gaara glare still held, "You were being a fool, like always. I don't understand why we need you in this team." Once he turned back to the group of three he focused and felt their chakra signatures. He quickly explored their power and said, "These three, they have to be lying. They could be part of the ANBU if they wanted to be, I can feel how strong they are by the amount of chakra they're pushing out, and they don't tire at all from it."

"So you three who claim to be Chunin are as powerful as ANBU? Wow, that's pretty impressive." Temari said, shock evident in her voice, when she saw Sasuke she blushed slightly and was about to ask him something but Gaara beat her to it.

"What are your names?" He spoke, "I like to know the names of my victims." He whispered, only loud enough for Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke to hear it.

So he's already got all three of us targeted, Sasuke thought glaring at the boy with his Sharingan still up, "Uchiha Sasuke." He spoke.

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura said the next second, following Sasuke's lead.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said, "You better not forget it, Shukaku." He whispered the last part so only Gaara could hear it.

Needless to say, Gaara's eyes widened considerably, "This will be a fun exam after all," He turned around, "Temari, Kankuro. We're leaving." A smile formed on Gaara's face, which was usually a sign that something involving him and someone's death was going to happen soon.

Both nodded and began to follow Gaara.

"Gaara!" Sasuke shouted, throwing three forms at the boy, sand suddenly flared up around him and caught them, "They're entry slips." Sasuke informed. Gaara only gave him a nod and walked off once more.

Naruto sighed in relief and turned towards Konohamaru, "You ok?"

"S-sensei?" Konohamaru asked, Naruto looked at him questioningly, but when Konohamaru pointed at his eye, Naruto realized what was wrong.

"Oh! My eyes, I forgot to change them back!" He closed his eyes and his fangs were gone, and his eyes were back to their original sky blue color.

"That was so cool!" Moegi shouted and hugged Naruto's leg, "Sensei! You're the best ever!"

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and sighed, Of course, give him all the credit, Sakura likewise powered down the chakra held in her hand.

"Well, we have a job to do you three." Sakura called to the three children, "We're going to be very busy setting up this exam, so please don't come looking for us once they start."

Konohamaru gave her an annoyed look, "Who's she?" Naruto grinned at him and Konohamaru grinned back, "Ah! Is she your girlfriend?"

"How did you ever guess?" Naruto said, patting Sakura's shoulder, "She's also a very good teammate. Also," He dropped down to the three children and beckoned them all closer, he then whispered, "don't piss her off unless if you want an early death."

Naruto managed to get all the children off his legs and waved, "See you later, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon!" Sasuke and Sakura waved too before jumping off in the distance.

"Ok, how should we do this?" Naruto asked as they continued to jump on the rooftops.

Sakura glanced over and saw a green blur jumping towards the Hokage tower, without missing a beat she sighed, "Looks like Gai's team is going to be in it again."

"Why wouldn't they be?" Sasuke asked, "We hardly even interfered with their team."

Sakura shook her shoulders, "Well, you did say all that stuff to Neji several weeks ago, it might have changed him, who knows, and you've been training Tenten."

Sasuke nodded, "I did that because," He paused, "she means a lot to me now." He could feel a blush as his two teammates gave him a knowing smile, "Should we intercept Gai and tell him to give the slips to us so we may deliver them?" He asked, praying that they'd change the subject.

"Nah." Naruto said, "He's so fast that by the time we reach him we'll be in the Old mans office."

Sasuke nodded, "Ok, so where do we go now? Head to the front gate and greet everyone that comes in the village?" He asked sarcastically, "Because, you know, that will be loads of fun."

"How about we go see the other two Genin teams and um, 'Encourage' them to join the exams?" Sakura said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Naruto and Sasuke nodded, having nothing against the idea.

They all focused on the many threads of chakra within the village. In such a large village, it would be nearly impossible to find the correct chakra signature and manage to follow it to the person's location, but the trio was not weak in any form.

Sakura opened her eyes first and pointed in the direction of the training field, "Kurenai's team is over there, and," She pointed in a direction towards several busy buildings, "Asuma's team is in there eating, of course."

"Ok!" Naruto shouted, obviously excited to see his friends again, "Who are we going to see first? I want to show them my awesome power!"

Sasuke sighed at Naruto's behavior once more, "If possible, try to keep your 'power showing' to a limit Naruto, we don't want our possible enemies around the area to know our weaknesses and strengths." Naruto nodded, "Ok, since Asuma is closer, we'll head to him first."

"Who died and made you leader of our team?" Naruto asked, glaring at Sasuke, but lifted it a second later, "Kidding, I'm kidding." Sasuke gave him a glance before jumping in the direction of Asuma's team; Sakura and Naruto quickly followed him.

(Konoha Restaurant district)

The trio entered a small building with the smell of barbeque fresh in the air. Naruto wiped the bit of drool that was slowly going down his face. "Ok So Asuma is over there." He turned his head and felt himself sigh as he watched Choji eat most, if not all of the food right when it was done being grilled in the middle of their table.

The three walked forth, and when Asuma noted their presence he asked without glancing at them, "What have I done to bring the ANBU to me?"

"We're not ANBU Asuma-sensei." Sakura spoke up, Asuma quickly turned around after hearing her voice, surprise evident in his expression, "We just wanted to know if you've entered your students for the exams."

"Sakura?!" Ino said, slamming her hands down on the table, "Why are you here? Coming to show off that you're a Chunin again?" She looked at Naruto and Sasuke who were standing behind Sakura.

Asuma shook his head, "Are you three sure you're only Chunin? This chakra I can feel from you tells me otherwise." He grinned as he saw Sasuke shake his head to the side very slightly so only he noticed it, "So you three are going around giving slips to everyone? I hated it when the old man made me do it."

"Yeah, we all ready learned that it sucks." Naruto said with a grimace on his face, "Finding all these people is really boring!"

"It is impressive that you found us though." He noted, "You have never seen us in here, and you managed to feel our chakra from wherever you were."

"I'm really advanced in that." Sakura admitted, "I can find a lot of people within almost a five mile radius."

"Like I said, I am impressed. You three will certainly advance through the ranks quickly." He then leaned on his hand and looked out the window.

Is he getting onto something? Naruto thought, not letting his facial expressions betray his thoughts, he replied, "Thanks."

Choji didn't say a thing, but only glanced at Shikamaru's face, which seemed to be in deep thought and shook his shoulders. He did say something very brief when his mouth wasn't stuffed with food, "Nice to see you guys." He then went back to eating.

Ino couldn't help but stare wide eyed and mouthed and Sakura and the other two, who she only a little while ago could have decided she was stronger than Sakura. "Why were you chosen to become Chunin and not anyone else? Especially Naruto, he was dead last in class, right?"

Naruto gave her an annoyed glance, but Sakura answered and said, "Kakashi-sensei watched us in the academy and decided we were whom he was going to train. That's all there is to it." Sakura knew it was a weak explanation, but there was really no other card to play.

Shikamaru gave her an odd look and went back to his thoughts.

"So, why was it that you came here?" Asuma asked, grabbing some cigarettes from his pouch.

"We wanted to see if you were entering your students in the Chunin exams." Sasuke explained.

Asuma nodded, "Now that you mentioned it, that's why I brought my team her." He looked thoughtful and turned to his team, "Team, I brought you here to see if you wanted to enter the Chunin exams. I know you all are probably scared to do it, and there is a slight possibility you can die, but I am positive that you all are a strong enough to team get pass it and become Chunin yourselves!" He then took a long drag of his cigarette. I hope that was enthusiastic enough for them.

"We can die?" Ino asked at once.

"Don't worry." Sakura said giving her an encouraging smile, "We'll be watching the entire exam process. Our job is to make sure the participants don't get too rough. Death is very possible, but it will be at a minimum."

Ino looked deep in thought. At this time Shikamaru gave Naruto a questioning glance. Naruto caught it and gave Shikamaru a confused look. "Naruto," Shikamaru said, "Do you think I should enter?"

"Eh?" Naruto gave him another look, "Y- Yes, Shikamaru. With your intelligence, I am very sure you can become Chunin easily."

Shikamaru nodded, "Ok, I'm entering Asuma-sensei."

"Me too!" Choji said right afterwards.

"If both of them are doing it, I can't have myself look bad," Ino said, "I will enter as well!"

Asuma smiled, "Great! Now where did I put those damn little slips," Naruto handed him some, "Ah, thanks. Sign these."

Each of the students grabbed a slip and wrote their required information on it, and handed it back to Asuma who handed it to Naruto, "Can you handle taking them back to Sarutobi?"

"Sure thing." Naruto said grabbing the slips, "I hope you guys do well in the exam."

The three of them waved their farewell to the team and exited the building. Sasuke glanced back at the place and said, "Shikamaru is definitely suspicious of us, we have got to be careful what we say around him."

"He seems to know something is off about us." Sakura said. When they were a decent distance away from the place Sakura said, "So, to Kurenai next?"

"Yep." Naruto answered, "Is she in the same spot?"

Sakura only focused for one second before saying, "Yep." It is much easier to find the location of a person if you know where to look and what their chakra signature feels like.

The three then jumped off to see the other Genin team.

(Konoha Training Grounds)

"So, do you three believe you have what it takes to enter the exams?" Kurenai asked as she handed her three students the exam slips. "Remember, this is no game, if you fool around death is a possible price to pay for it."

Kiba grabbed the slip and quickly patted all over his body, "Damn, do I have anything to write with?" A pencil suddenly dropped on his head, "Eh, where did this come from?"

A figured landed right in front of him, Kiba had the decency to scream and land on his butt as the red eyes of the person glared right into his, "I want that back when you're done Kiba." He spoke, and Kiba looked up straight away.

"Naruto!" He shouted, "God damn! Don't you EVER scare my like that again!"

Shino looked up, "I assume Sasuke and Sakura are with you?"

Naruto deactivated his eyes and said, "Yeah, they're behind you."

Shino managed to look a little surprise as he turned to see both of them standing behind him, smiling, "What are you up to Shino?" Sakura asked.

"Entering the exams." He slowly answered back.

Hinata who stood by Kurenai asked, "W- why are y-you here, Naruto-kun?" Kurenai looked like she wanted to ask the question as well.

"We're here to see if you're going to enter the exams!" Naruto answered.

"Yeah we are!" Kiba yelled, "And we're going to dominate it too so we'll be up to your level – then we'll surpass you!"

Naruto laughed, "Hah! Thanks for the laugh Kiba."

Kiba sent him a glare, but otherwise stalked over to Shino and looked at his sign up sheet.

"So! Hinata-chan!" Naruto said throwing his arm around Hinata, this caused Sakura to give him her trademark death glare and Hinata to blush as red as a tomato, "You're going to enter the Chunin exams right! I'll cheer you and your team on the whole way!"

Hinata only weakly nodded, He called me chan! Is there a chance?

She glanced up and noticed Sakura and smacked Naruto on the head, "Idiot." She muttered under her breath.

"Hey! What did I do? I was trying to be supportive!" Naruto sighed, "I did something wrong, didn't I."

Sakura nodded, "You sure did."

Naruto sat on the ground cross-legged and arms crossed as well, "What to do?"

Sasuke watched the scene and sighed, "Not again," He smacked his face at what was about to unfold, At least Tenten and I aren't so public about it. He whined within his mind.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, standing up, He wrapped his hands around her waist, "I'm sorry! Maybe I could take you out sometimes?"

"Will you pay for the whole meal?" She asked, still a hint of anger in her voice.

Naruto laughed, "What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't?" Sakura twisted around in his grip and gave him a kiss, effectively crushing Hinata's dreams, making Kiba holler and cheer, and Shino doing absolutely nothing.

"Hm, that wasn't as bad as they normally are." Sasuke said, relief echoing in his voice, "Ok, You three entering the Chunin exams or what?" He said speaking up so they all could hear him.

Kiba shouted, "Hell yes!" And quickly wrote his information down. Shino did so as soon as he got Kiba's pencil and wrote his information down as well.

Shino turned to Hinata, "Hinata. Will you be entering the exam so we all may participate in it?"

"Y- yes." She whispered, her heart had shattered once more at the sight of Naruto and Sakura. She wanted to hate Sakura, but couldn't manage to do so, and she didn't want to break them apart when they seemed so close together. I have to see Shikamaru-kun, She mentally noted to herself.

Naruto nodded and took all of their slips, "Thanks guys, I know you all will do excellently!" Both Sasuke and Sakura nodded showing their support before they all left with the slips.

(Three Days Later, Ninja Academy)

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all entered the academy. They all wore their black ninja gear and Chunin vest for they were going to be watching the students in the first part of the exam. They then wandered into a hall filled with Genin, and screaming about entering the appropriate room in front of them. Sasuke only sighed at how they couldn't figure this out.

There was a small Genjutsu over the sign above the door, making it appear to be the room that they were suppose to enter, when actually it wasn't. If it weren't for Naruto coming back this time around he would have never learned what was really in there, but it was really only a Chunin waiting room.

"You guys hardly deserve to even be Genin." Naruto yelled to the crowd a smile on his face, he knew this would piss them off more than anything.

Kiba tore through the crowd and got in his face, "What's that Naruto?" Naruto quickly gave Kiba a glare worthy of being as scary as Kyuubi, including the red eyes, so Kiba backed down when Naruto released him.

"I'll just be going now," Kiba said and walked away to his team.

The whole crowd was gathered around two 'Genin' who would not let them enter the exam room, and both of them only gave the trio a grin, "Ah, it appears some more of the staff is here. You want in?"

Sasuke nodded, "Please." He walked right through the students who all had veins visible in their foreheads.

"Arg! You Konoha Chunin think you're so cool doing this!" A boy jumped towards them, he wore very weird gear, and had bandages wrapped all around his face along with the Sound Headband on his head, "Take this!"

When he was about to strike the Chunin, he disappeared, as did everyone else in the room. The Genin looked around, "Genjutsu!" He was about to dispel it, but felt a gigantic force against his cheek, the Genjutsu canceled, but Sakura's fist was right in his face, adding her super strength, he was in a world of pain at the moment.

"Anyone else wants to try taking us?" Naruto questioned mockingly, "Or, are you all afraid now?" He could see Gaara in the back of the room giving him a glare. We better get out of here before Shukaku tells him to murder us all, "Have fun all of you!" He said as he grabbed Sakura and Sasuke and pulled them into the room the two Chunin were standing in front of.

Another Sound Genin walked up to the one that was just punched by Sakura, "Hey, Dosu, I wouldn't recommend picking fights from people of higher skill than you."

"Shut up Zaku," He replied, still lying on the ground, "Give me a few seconds to get out of this daze."

A loud voice suddenly boomed from within the room, "Finally you three are here." Ibiki glared at the three, "You children have fun out there?" He was the same as the three kids remembered him, he wore a bandana around his head so his scars and such wouldn't show, and wore a huge trench coat. He was tall, and very scary to look at even if he was on their side.

Around Ibiki was another batch of Chunin who had entered the room. The place was simply a small waiting room almost, and it looked quite odd with the three children being the only children in there.

"Sorry Ibiki." Naruto said, "It seems the Genin are having a hard time realizing that this isn't the room they're suppose to be in."

"It's good though, If they can't see pass that Genjutsu then they deserve to not be able to enter the exam." Sakura sighed.

Sasuke nodded, showing his agreement.

"So, Orochimaru is coming to this exam is he?" Ibiki said, a grin was on his face as he saw the shock on the three children's faces and the other Chunin in the room, "Hokage-sama is always so full of useful information." The three could have sworn that Ibiki winked at them.

Did the Old man tell him?! "Eh, wow." Naruto said unintelligently.

"So, when are we going to begin the exam?" Sasuke asked.

"Start the exam? We have to go kill Orochimaru!" one of the Chunin yelled, many others yelled their agreement.

Ibiki glared at him and calmly stated, "No. Do you really think the Hokage doesn't already have a team of ANBU on the job already?" He again looked towards the three children, giving them the rest of the hints they needed, "We'll proceed as planned, if we don't then it could harm our relations with other villages." He glanced at Sasuke, "We'll begin whenever those idiots out there realize that this isn't their exam room."

"You're kidding right?" Sakura asked, "There was a huge horde of them out there that didn't see it."

Ibiki sat down in the chair and checked his watch, "We've thirty minutes. Make yourselves at home." He motioned to the tables and chairs scattered across the room that they could all wait at. The trio sighed dejectedly and went to sit at one in the far corner.

It took only another twenty or so minutes for the noise to quiet down and the door to open and the two Chunin that were guarding walked in and sighed.

"One of the moronic kids decided it would be a good idea to yell out that it was a Genjutsu so all those no talent idiots could get into the exams," He sighed, "It was fun while it lasted I'll admit."

Ibiki nodded and stood up, "Finally. It's almost time for the exam to begin."

Sasuke stood up, "I'd like to go into the exam room before it begins to see someone important." If Ibiki really knows who we are, he'll definitely have to let us. He and Ibiki stared for several minutes before Ibiki shrugged.

"Be ready to punish them when I get there." He only stated.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura and all quickly disappeared into a swirl of leaves once more.

(First Exam Room.)

Three people just appeared right in the center of a small gathering of Genin all from the Leaf village. They all jumped back at the disturbance, and only looked up when they saw three people that were almost exactly like them – besides the fact that their skill was much higher, and they wore Chunin vest.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kiba asked, obviously annoyed at the interruption, "Shouldn't you be preparing to fail us?"

Naruto smiled at him, "Of course not, I wanted to come and say hi to all my good friends who will be taking this exam!"

Ino grabbed latched herself onto Sasuke and squealed, "Sasuke-kun! You're finally here to admit your love to me now!"

"No." He said as he worked his way out of his grip, he looked around the room and made eye contact with Tenten, who he smiled at and motioned over. Tenten quickly got her teams attention and made them all come over to the rather large group speaking.

"Hey Sasuke!" Tenten said, and gave him a hug, making Ino glare at her.

Sasuke hugged back, to piss Ino off even more, "Hey Ten-chan! You prepared to take the exam?"

She shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

Naruto and Sakura both were just chatting with Shikamaru and Choji when suddenly a green blur knocked all of them but Sakura away, "You!" Lee shouted in all his glory, his fuzzy eyebrows, tight green jumpsuit and teeth shined with a slight sparkle, "I love you! Will you go out with me?" He asked Sakura, kneeling down in front of her.

If Sakura hadn't known Lee, she probably would have kicked him in the fact and called him a freak, but since he would become a rather powerful ally she decided to simply say, "Eh, sorry Lee-san. I'm already taken."

Lee looked shocked, "The angel knows my name yet claims she has been taken? Tell me; what is your name and the name of the vile one who could possibly take you away from me!"

"Heh, I'm Sakura." She began, but Lee quickly interrupted.

"Sakura-chan, quite a beautiful name for one such as yourself!" He grabbed her hand and kissed it, probably something Gai taught him to do.

Sakura quickly wiped her hand on the nearest person, who happened to be Shikamaru, and said, "Thanks Lee-san, remember what I said, I already have a boyfriend, so stop going after me."

"Ah yes!" Lee got up fire burning in his eyes, "The vile one! Who is he?"

Naruto stood next to Shikamaru who was busy looking at the 'Lee-spit' on his clothes and finally sighed and didn't think anything other of it. Choji continued to eat his chips and said, "Naruto, shouldn't you like, go hold Sakura so Lee gets her point?"

Naruto grinned and said, "I would, but Lee's a good guy, I wouldn't want to ruin his fun already."

"Do you know him?" Shikamaru asked, in his thinking pose again, like he was three days ago when he learned more information on the trio.

"Not really," Naruto dragged on, and then said, "Tenten just tells me a lot about him, and he sounds really powerful, you have to respect those with power in their hands."

Shikamaru nodded, "True."

"Like you," Naruto turned to him, "I'm sure you could easily beat me with your intelligence." When Sakura's knuckles began to crack at a rather loud volume Naruto sighed and saw the vein about to pop on her head from Lee, "I better go defuse the Sakura bomb."

"That would be pretty wise." Shikamaru nodded, "See you later Naruto." Naruto waved at him before he went over to the two.

Sakura glanced at him and sighed, "Lee-san!" She shouted, getting his attention from him ranting, "This is my boyfriend." She showed him Naruto, "He's Naruto; I think you've heard of him before?"

"No, I haven't! However, I would like to challenge you once this exam is over for the love of Sakura-chan!" He struck a good-guy pose, "In an all Taijutsu fight! Whoever wins gets to continue going out with her like you have been!"

Naruto looked at him disbelievingly, "You acknowledged that I am going out with her, but you still want to fight for her? She's not an object who can simply change who she loves you know."

Lee looked dejectedly, "I guess you're right. I always figured that the male should be the taller of the two in the relationship." Lee sighed.

"What!" Naruto shouted, "I'm not that short! Maybe a few or so inches, but that's it! You want me to kick your ass!" Sakura who only sighed at his antics was holding Naruto back.

A figure walked over to the whole group and exclaimed, "What the hell are you children doing? This isn't a party; you don't just chat here without thinking someone won't come to kick your ass!"

Sakura and Naruto both looked up, hatred filling their eyes. Kabuto! They both thought at the same time. They had to hold themselves at bay before the urge to completely crush him came over both of them, Lee noted a silence from both of them, and focused his attention on the new comer.

Kabuto still was the same as before when the exam first went on in the old timeline, he wore glasses, and the same purple clothes. Naruto almost felt the need to scratch his forehead protector to indicate his true status.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all tried to hide their emotions, to limited success. Sasuke fortunately was able to hide everything, while both Sakura and Naruto were glaring at the boy.

Kabuto coughed and said, "I'm Kabuto, I have done this exam for three years and a half. It's not a simple walk in the park, you," He noticed the Chunin vest of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, "Nine, should know the difficulty of this exam is very high, and you can possibly die in it!"

Shino and Shikamaru said nothing besides absorb the information.

"Luckily for you all, I will help you." He pulled out some card, "With these information cards. They don't show anything, but when I put my chakra into them it shows the data of every ninja who has entered the exam."

Ino looked curious, "They show anything about the person?"

Kabuto nodded, "Yep, anything that is recorded about that person is shown. Even things that they can possibly hide and isn't written down anywhere are shown."

Neji walked forth from the corner he was hiding in. He only gave Hinata a glance before turning towards Kabuto, "Show me all the information you have on Uchiha Sasuke."

"And Haruno Sakura!" Ino shouted.

Kiba then added, "And Uzumaki Naruto!"

The trio all said select curse words within their minds.

"You have their names!" Kabuto exclaimed, "That will make this much easier then." He placed the cards down on the floor and quickly shuffled until he found the correct one and quickly swiped it away while adding in his chakra. "Uchiha Sasuke. Primary elements are Fire and Lightning, his instructor is Hatake Kakashi, and his two teammates are Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. He's done…" Kabuto whistled, "No D-rank missions, seventeen C-rank missions, fifty-two B-rank missions, Twenty-four A-rank missions, and two S-rank missions. That's quite a lot of experience you have under your belt, especially for a Chunin." He shook his head at Sasuke.

He put the card away, "You have to be at least a Jounin." He said to Sasuke, "Care to explain?"

"No. I don't care to explain." Sasuke merely said, Tenten looked at him in wonder, he whispered, "Maybe later." She only nodded.

Kabuto took another card and read, "Haruno Sakura, Primary element is Earth, second one is unknown. Her instructor is Hatake Kakashi, and teammates are Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." He glanced at her, "Same amount of missions as Sasuke, side information says she's an expert in Genjutsu, and medical jutsu, almost enough to rival Tsunade, wow."

Everyone was again silent, and Kabuto quickly traded cards, "Last, but not least, Uzumaki Naruto. His primary elements are Wind - that's pretty rare - and the second one is unknown. His teacher is Hatake Kakashi; teammates are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. His side information says, that he knows many of the fourth Hokage's jutsu's and is the container for-"

Sakura quickly snatched the card and crumpled it to tiny pieces before dropping the remains on the floor. "You learned enough." She sneered at Kabuto.

"Is there a problem 'Chunin'?" Kabuto said, a smirk hidden on his face. Sakura was about to turn around to punch him, but Naruto managed to get to her side and calm her out of it.

Before any more discussion could go on, a large amount of smoke entered the room, suffocating the children for a little bit. When it cleared the Leaf group looked around and couldn't see the three 'Chunin' within their group, but when they looked up towards where the cause of the smoke came, they saw Ibiki in the middle of about twenty Chunin, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke among them.

"Listen up brats! Sit down so we can begin this stupid exam!" Ibiki called out, to which all the participants all entered different seats scattered about the room.

Ibiki began to explain the rules of the exam, which were as followed: You have ten questions on your exam. If you're caught cheating, you lose two points. If you're caught five times you're out, and the tenth question will be said at the last fifteen minutes of the exam.

"Sounds easy enough." Kiba muttered, he glanced at the wall and saw Sasuke next to him, who merely gave him a wave.

"The Chunin around the room will be watching you to see if you're cheating, do not get caught. With that said, let the tests begin!" Ibiki shouted to the class, and the exam then began.

Hinata glanced next to her to see Naruto was right next to her. She couldn't do it often, for it might be misread as cheating by some of the Chunin so she tried to ignore him. She put her hands together and thought, Byakugan! She noted Naruto smiled and wrote down a note right when she did it. She nearly gasped, but kept it to herself.

Ino was not having a good time with this, All these questions are impossible! It's stuff that I'd expect only Sakura to know! She looked around the room and tried to find someone who was writing quickly, but her face fell when she saw next to no one getting anything done.

Shikamaru was leaning on his desk, a soft snore coming from him. Choji, who was sitting next to him only laughed a little at it, and proceeded to eat. The Chunin near those two only sighed at the sight, they couldn't boot them out because they weren't cheating, but they weren't doing anything else either.

Heh, the purpose of this test is to cheat, Neji hid his hands and activated his Byakugan and looked around, Most of these people don't even know the answers, it's obvious that only a Chunin or higher would know these questions. So that means that someone must be in here that is writing down the answers to be cheated off of. That's the purpose of the test.

Neji kept his head looking down, but had his eyes looked frantically everywhere until he finally spotted one person who had two answers down already, here we go. He began to write down what he was reading on the 'Genin's' paper.

The silence in the room was only interrupted by the periodic tapping of pencils as the participants frantically tried to find answers. Many had found out how to do the test, but couldn't figure out the correct method to cheat, it was only a matter of time before people would begin to be booted from the test.

Sakura stood from her chair, "Numbers, sixteen, forty-two, and seventy-five, you're disqualified."

The said team stood up and it was obvious that they were pissed as they slammed their chairs in as they proceeded to leave the room, and shot Sakura angry glares, to which she only smiled at, probably aggravating them even more.

"Numbers, four, thirty-two, and fifty, you're disqualified!" Naruto said, standing up, walking forth close to Hinata who was beginning to breath heavily because of how close he was, she would have slapped herself and said 'stop it', for she knew he didn't like her and her admiration of him infuriated Sakura, but she couldn't bring herself to not like him anymore.

I'll have to speak to Shikamaru-kun again, she glanced at her paper, and saw that three of the nine questions available were finished right now; I can't think of this right now, I have to do this for my team!

Gaara, who had only been sitting with his arms crossed took this time to focus, and brought two fingers up to his forehead and began to materialize an eye out of sand, and out of view of the Chunin. Naruto glanced at him, but knew he couldn't write his name down if he didn't see any physical form of his ability.

The sand eye traveled under the desks and came upon one of the Chunin disguised as Genin writing the test. It quickly shot up fast enough to where no one could see it, but left enough of a sand trail to have it get in the mans eyes, the eye then quickly gathered the information and brought it back to Gaara.

I must pass this. Mother wants so badly to meet Mr. Uzumaki. He felt a grin coming to his face, but quickly stopped and began to write down what he saw from his eye. Not yet mother, not with all these people watching.

Tenten had invisible strings attached to her finger tips and began to move them so she could see the test, she knew that if she looked up, then the Chunin would write her name down for they'd see the mirror system she had set up for herself and Lee.

Ok, pretend to lean back and relax, only look up for several seconds, and don't let your eyes move too much. She stretched her hands and yawned, leaning back to see the ceiling and the mirror, Ok, time to gather data. She only stayed like that for near four seconds before coming back forth.

She wrote down several answers and began to rearrange the mirrors so Lee could see them. The signal was for Lee to put on his forehead to protect on his head. This was easy enough, for she was behind Lee. After several seconds he did so, and proceeded to write down the answers.

"Numbers, Forty-nine, sixty-five, and twenty-one, you're all disqualified!" Sasuke called out. It was now at a point where a lot of people on his list had four strikes, a massacre was about to occur very shortly.

"Numbers, Two, forty-eight, and fifty-three, you're disqualified!" A Chunin shouted. The massacre had begun. After that announcement, the Chunin were taking only about ten second breaks before another team of participants would be disqualified, It was obvious by Ibiki's sadistic smirk that he was enjoying the events unfolding in front of him.

Soon, only about two-dozen and half teams were remaining, or in other words ninety students left.

"You got it Akamaru?" Kiba asked the dog sitting on top of his head, which barked at Kiba, who seemingly understood all the things the dog was saying and writing down all the answers. Shino had used his bugs to get answers, in a similar fashion to Gaara actually.

Ino put her hands in front of her and mentally said, Shintenshin no Jutsu! Her body fell on the desk in front of her, and Naruto simply sighed and wrote a strike next to her name, the first one. He knew exactly what she was doing.

She entered the body of one of the Genin and began to read his answers and grinned, Thanks, sucker! She then went back to her body and began to write the answers down. When she got them all that she could remember, she memorized them, and targeted Shikamaru with her technique, and did it once more, to which Naruto marked her twice.

Ino glanced at Shikamaru's paper, and was surprised to see it was all filled out. She checked her clothes and hands to make sure she landed in the right body. What the hell? Shikamaru knew all of this?! She shook it off, why am I bothering to stay in here? She canceled the jutsu and traveled back to her own body. Shikamaru glanced at her and gave her a look.

I was only trying to help you fool! She wanted to shout at him, but simply turned her sights to Choji, Here we go! Naruto got nervous as he wrote Ino's name down a third time.

Ino inside of Choji's body noted his empty paper, and quickly got to work on writing down the answers for him. She knew he probably didn't like how it felt with her being in control of his conscious, but he'd appreciate it eventually. Once she wrote down what she remember, which was only three questions, she transferred back to her body.

Naruto sighed in relief as she finally put her head down and stayed still.

Kankuro raised his hand, to Ibiki's annoyance and asked, "Can I head to the bathroom for a moment? I need to-."

"Fine." Ibiki called out, "I don't need to hear the details of it. Take a Chunin with you." Kankuro nodded and a suspicious looking Chunin went out with him.

After a few minutes, he came out and tossed a piece of paper to Temari, which Sasuke quickly wrote down as cheating, a strike for Kankuro and Temari. The rest of the exam went well, with more teams getting out, until there were only twenty-six teams left.

"Ok brats!" Ibiki called out, "It's time for the final question! Before I give it out however, I'm going to change some rules…" Various cries came out from the participants, to which Ibiki quieted down with a, "SILENCE!" everyone shut up after that.

He looked around and continued, "Now, if you take the tenth question and fail it, you'll forever stay a Genin for the rest of your ninja career!" Multiple cries occurred, music to Ibiki's ears. "If you pass it, you will continue the Chunin exams!"

"That's not fair! Some people in here have taken this exam more than once!" Kiba shouted.

"Well, they were lucky to not have me as their first exam instructor," He smirked sadistically, "Now, those of you who want to quit, say so now so you can run like the cowards you are!"

It was silent at first, but suddenly a hand raised, a Genin called out, "Sorry team, but I don't want to risk it!" He was quickly called out as the rest of his team, who didn't look very mad themselves, and looked a little relieved.

That, however, broke the ice. Many teams began to quit, and by the time Naruto stood up and yelled at Ibiki in the previous timeline, over half the teams were gone from what there once were. Now, only thirteen remained.

"You all are sure you wish to continue with this?" Ibiki asked, "It could risk your whole career."

Hinata was terrified; she glanced at Naruto who gave off no emotion at the moment, probably part of his job, so he was of no support. Should I quit? What would father think of me if I were to stay a Genin for the rest of my life?

Neji eyes widened as he noticed Hinata's hand slowly rise, she isn't going to is she? When she was about to call out, Neji stood up and slammed his hand down on the desk, quite out of his character, "We are all strong enough to continue. I could see all of these people's chakra signatures, and I can feel that they're prepared to continue onto the next part." He gave Hinata a glance and sat down.

What the? Naruto was shocked, he didn't expect anyone to do something he had done in the past, but if someone had to do it, he expected Kiba or someone, not Neji of all the people in his mind, I thought he was still an asshole right now.

Hinata looked at her cousin, with probably more shock and surprise than Naruto did. She knew he hated her, so why would he have cared if she quit? Neji, She thought, why?

"So," Ibiki smirked, "It seems your words have had a positive effect on the rest in here." Ibiki grinned, "Does anyone else wish to quit?" Silence answer him, "Then I am proud to say that you thirteen teams have passed the exam!"

Everyone looked shocked at that, besides the Chunin of course.

"You all were excellent. You managed to avoid the eye of some of the most skilled Chunin in the village. The point of this exam were to see how well you information gathering skill were, if you were horrible, it cost you team dearly, like on any real mission." Ibiki said, "Information is worth more than anything on the battlefield. If you're caught, you mustn't crumble under your enemies grip like a coward. You have to hold your own!"

He then began to take off his bandana. Naruto's eyes widened, and he turned his head away from the sickening image that was about to be revealed, I don't need that to be in my nightmares again! He heard everyone gasp in terror; Sasuke and Sakura did something very similar to him, as did every other Chunin.

"This is how you must defend information! Even if it costs you your life you must retain it from the enemy!" Ibiki sighed, "That's it. I hope you all proceed to do well in the exam, and-" Suddenly a loud crash occurred, and the window next to Ibiki shattered and a large poster was put up with Kunai saying, 'Mitarashi Anko'.

A woman flew in afterwards and exclaimed, "Hello children! I'm your second exam proctor! Mitarashi Anko!" Everyone sighed, for they already read it on the poster behind her, "Now! Follow me!" She counted the numbers and smirked, "Nice work Ibiki."

"I did my best." He smirked, "A lot of them were cowards, you have only the toughest ones left to play with." Ibiki walked away, "Good luck brats, you'll need it."

Anko began to walk out with the group of Genin behind her, "You all will come with me, you'll have an hour break before the next part of the exams, so you might want to go say good-bye to all those you love, you may never see them again!" She grinned.

She's worse than Ibiki, Sakura thought, a look of disgust crossing her face.

Hinata caught up to Neji and quietly asked, "N- Neji, Why d-did you do t-that for me?"

"You're the clan head. You must never falter under fear or anything within your path, as a branch member, it is my job to make sure you take the right path." Neji simply said and walked onward.

Hinata nodded, and the rest of the Genin were out of the place. The Chunin began to go out as well after all the Genin were gone as well, leaving only three Chunin left.

Naruto and Sasuke walked over to Sakura, "That was fun!" Naruto said, "So, what do you guys want to do for an hour before we need to go watch the kiddies fight it out in the Forest of Death?"

Sasuke grabbed a Kunai, "I know of a certain snake I want to meet."

"Don't we all." Ibiki called from the front of the room, "Don't you guys have jobs as proctors for the next part of the exam?"

Sakura smiled, "I guess Hokage-sama told you of us?"

"He did! You think I really wanted twelve year olds running the show here?" He looked rather annoyed, "Now, before you brats leave, help me pick up these papers at least."

The trio sighed and did as they were asked.

(Within the Forest of Death)

Kabuto traveled deep within the forest and looked around; once he was sure no one had followed him he continued his journey into the forest. He jumped into a small clearing, and called out, "I'm here, master."

From one of the trees, a man materialized himself and walked forth, "So, Kabuto, what information do you have on their status?"

"They definitely trained a lot. They're going to be quite a match for both of us, if all three of them fight me I know I'd die; you may make it out alive, with plenty of scratches though."

Orochimaru lashed and held Kabuto by his throat, "You made us come back far too late! You foolish boy, I should kill you right now!"

"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto wheezed out, "They d-don't k-know that we're b-back yet!" Orochimaru released Kabuto.

Orochimaru walked out, "For your sake Kabuto, I hope you're right. I'm guessing the three of them warned the Hokage that we'd be here?"

"The whole village is filled with rumors of you being here. It's not safe to go with our original plan!" Kabuto said, "They'll come and kill us, they probably have ANBU looking for us right now!"

Orochimaru shook his head, "No. We've set too much into motion now for us to stop."

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto looked surprised, "So we're going to proceed as planned?"

He nodded, "I will attempt to give Sasuke the Cursed Mark again, and if I succeed, I can modify its power to make him work for us again. Sarutobi-sensei is alive and well, and I simply can't have that."

"Orochimaru-sama," Another person came into the clearing, "Kimimaro is back at the Sound village in the room you requested."

"Thanks, Sakon." Orochimaru grinned, "With our new knowledge of his disease, we can possibly remove it. He was quite the useful asset to our forces last time."

Kabuto nodded, "Indeed he was."

Orochimaru stretched his arm out, "Go now! And proceed with your duties!" The remaining people jumped out of the clearing.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Grammar fixes.

-In the original version I had them reveal that they were ANBU, now I don't want that to occur, so I had to change a lot of dialogue and exposition at the part when they leave the Hokage Tower and meet Gaara, and every other team, and in the classroom.

-Changed ending dialogue between Orochimaru and Kabuto.

This was an annoying chapter to rewrite I will admit, because I changed something that was pretty much the central theme of this chapter, which in the previous one had them reveal their ANBU selves, and it shows how the rookies and everyone dealt with it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. See you all in chapter 11.


	11. Second Exam Chaos!

REWRITTEN

(Outside the Forest of Death)

"Ok children!" Anko called out. All the children had the time to go do whatever they wanted, if it was to see their parents or train some more, they were all definitely determined to head in and begin the second part of the exam. "I hope you're all ready! It's a good day to die!" She smiled evilly.

Almost everyone shuddered at her words.

"Now, because we can't have other nations hating us if their little Genin's die, you need to sign these waivers saying that you understand that you can die in this place." Anko lifted up a sheet of paper, "Now, all you line up so you can get one of these!"

The children all obeyed and got in a line to grab their paper.

Kiba who was in front of the other two members of his team exclaimed, "I can wait to do this! We'll kick the others teams asses!"

"Kiba-kun, maybe you shouldn't say that?" Hinata nervously asked, looking around at all the faces glaring at the dog-like child.

Shino nodded, "Kiba, you're probably not stupid enough to realize that all these teams are our competition, and if we provoke them, we may have to fight more than necessary." He pushed up his sunglasses and added, "We'd have too many extra scrolls."

The other teams lessened their glares, fearing what Shino could do, and looked forward to getting their waivers and entering the forest.

"I wonder where Sasuke-kun's team is." Ino muttered, looking around in the same line as Kiba and his team, "I wonder if he'll have any part of the second part of the exam."

Shikamaru shook his head, "Who cares, I'm sure they know what they're doing."

"You know more than you're letting on," Ino accused him, "TELL ME!" She grabbed Shikamaru's collar and began to strangle him.

Choji glanced over at the two and shook his head; he was used to his team's antics by now.

Over by the Outskirts of the Forest was team Gai, who were all looking confident. Well, Lee had a complicated look on his face, probably thinking of Sakura, and Neji and Tenten were both preparing their equipment, making sure that they were completely prepared.

Tenten looked over to her two teammates and asked, "You two ready to do this?"

"Of course," Neji nodded, "Most of these people aren't even worthy of being here."

"That's not what it seemed like when we were in the exam room," Tenten noted, "You said something like, 'we're all good enough for this'."

Neji looked troubled, "So I did."

"I hope the angel Sakura-chan is here to see my awesome skills and see that I am much more worthy than the Uzumaki boy! If I fail in that, I will run around the village five hundred times and afterwards I will send her a thousand cards to show my apology!" Fire burned in Lee's eyes during the whole speech.

Tenten looked annoyed and said, "Lee, you do know that Sakura kind of loves Naruto a lot, and the chances of you actually getting her to go out with you are one in a billion."

As if on cue, three figures dropped from the trees above the team, "Sorry I'm a little late Ten-chan!" Sasuke said as he landed next to her, "Ibiki can be… evil once in a while." Sasuke said, rubbing the back of his head.

Lee took one look at Sakura before trying to hug her once more, "Sakura-chan! Please, be with me!" He nearly reached her until she was pulled out of his path. Naruto held her in his hands, and gave Sakura a large kiss on the lips, she noted what he was doing, and gave in easily without much of a fight at all.

"NO!" Lee fell to the ground, "Why must fate do this to me?"

Naruto grinned as he got back from Sakura, "Don't worry Lee, you're a good person, I'm sure someone will eventually see the good in you."

Neji who had been quiet for the whole time finally decided to speak up, "Sasuke. From your records in the exam room Kabuto gave us, you are not Chunin. What is going on?"

"Oh yeah!" Tenten looked Sasuke into the eyes, "Are you going to explain all that stuff Kabuto said in the exam room?"

Sasuke looked around, "Listen, I can't tell you everything, but let's just say that Naruto, Sakura, and I have been trained for years now by a Kakashi. After observing us in the academy he picked us out to be work under him."

"Why did he choose you three?" She asked.

_Why do they always ask this?_ Sasuke thought, but quickly shook his head back to her, "Well, Ten-chan, I don't know. I guess since I'm an Uchiha and he has Sharingan he figured he could teach me."

"What about Naruto and Sakura-chan?" Lee asked, getting interested with the topic as well.

"We're all not sure!" Naruto said, "I mean, who really cares? What has happened has happened. No use trying to make sense of it all." He shook his head at Sasuke, letting the boy know he had his back, to which Sasuke smiled at.

Tenten nodded, "Ok, well. Bye Sasuke, we have to get ready."

Naruto and Sakura both quickly got behind Sasuke and did a small demonstration. Naruto stood in front of her and quickly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards him and looked lost in her eyes for a moment before getting into, yet another deep kiss between the two of them.

"I see." Sasuke nodding, take notes of the technique.

Tenten glanced at him, "What?"

Sasuke then walked forward and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards him. She looked surprised, but he continued the tactic anyways. Then, once there was no space between them, Sasuke looked deep into her eyes and said, "Please be safe Ten-chan." He then proceeded to kiss her, to which she quickly gave into.

"He's good." Naruto mumbled.

"Exceptionally good!" Lee shouted, writing down his technique in a notepad he suddenly got out of nowhere. "I will use your comrade's move on some woman that will one day become my wife!"

Sakura giggled at his antics, she hadn't seen Lee for so long and it was definitely refreshing to see him act like this once again. Unfortunately for her, Lee took this the wrong way.

"Sakura-chan! Did I make you laugh?" He smiled, "Does that mean you chose me instead of Uzumaki?"

"Sorry Lee," Sakura said, and turned back to Naruto, "I'm still with the 'Uzumaki'." She replied and gave him a small kiss.

Naruto shook his head, "You know, I could definitely get used to having Lee around if it will result in this much kissing."

Before anymore conversation could be had, Anko yelled out, "Ok brats! The test is about to begin shortly, so get over here so I can tell you what to do!"

The teams all walked over, prepared to listen to what she had to say.

"ALRIGHT! Do all of you have a scroll? There is the Heaven and Earth scroll. To pass the second exam, you must get each scroll and make it to the center of the forest within five days. Any later and you lose. Killing IS allowed, and will be enjoyed actually!" She laughed evilly, making the students around her move a few paces away from her, "Also, do not open the scrolls at all, or you'll be in for a nasty surprise!"

Sasuke counted the amount of teams around, "Only thirteen," He muttered, "Only six teams can pass this part. So that means nine fights if no one disqualifies themselves and if all six of the possible teams make it to the building."

Sakura and Naruto both absorbed his information and nodded, "Remember our mission guys," Sakura whispered, to which both Naruto and Sasuke nodded.

Anko gave them a suspicious look before shrugging it off and giving off the rest of the directions. After five more minutes she had Chunin around the place to escort the teams to where they would enter the forest.

"Here we go!" Naruto said, walking towards the rather large gate holding all the beast and things from the forest in front of him.

Before they entered Sasuke began to speak, "If any of you see Orochimaru, flare you chakra, and as much of it as you can possibly get. We'll all need to work together to bring him down, and the huge chakra spike will probably scare off all the Genin in the forest and alert ANBU to our presence."

"Got it." Naruto said.

"Before we go," Sakura said, "Don't do anything stupid if you find him. Go on defensive if you have to engage in combat with him, and do not let him give you the curse seal again." The last part was obviously directed at Sasuke.

He looked down, "Of course, he won't give me that damn thing again. I'll rip his head right off before I have to suffer through that again."

"Good to hear," Naruto said, a smile was evident on his face.

"Okay, we'll head in and be far up in the trees. To be safe and so no Genin will see us, Sakura will use a Genjutsu to make us almost invisible to the naked eye, and afterwards we'll split up once we're a decent way into the forest." Sasuke looked up, "You guy ready?"

The gates rumbled slightly from all the doors opening, and a siren went off, alerting everyone that the second part of the exam had officially begun.

The three looked at each other and nodded; Sakura quickly did some hand seals and concealed them all before they jumped off into the forest, prepared to fight Orochimaru.

(Forest of Death)

Once the three ANBU were a Kilometer into the forest, they split their group. Sakura dropped the Genjutsu, for she couldn't use it from very long distances, and it would be much easier to conceal themselves without two others with them.

Before they left, Naruto shouted out, "Good luck you guys!"

Sakura and Sasuke didn't yell back, and gave Naruto an annoyed look, who only returned it with a wide smile of his own.

Down on the ground Kiba looked and sniffed, "Did you guys hear something?"

"No." Shino said bluntly, "You're just hearing things. Don't make too much noise, there may be other teams within this area, and we could be killed."

"I've spotted someone!" Hinata cried out, completely ignoring Shino's warning. "He has a really powerful chakra though," She said, examining the body some more, "It almost looks… bronze?"

Kiba looked thoughtful, "Bronze chakra? Well, that's different than usual.

"Shall we investigate it then?" Shino asked.

"Why not? We can possibly steal his scroll and-" Kiba was interrupted.

"He's engaging another person in combat. W-we could possibly get two scrolls?" She looked at them questioningly.

Kiba shrugged, "Why not? Let's go guys!" He allowed Hinata to run forth, leading them through as he and Shino followed her to the fight that was about to unfold.

(Deeper in the Forest of Death)

Sasuke landed on another tree branch and looked around. It was almost pitch black where he was, the trees above his head hid most of the sunlight from reaching the forest floor. He could hear many large creatures below him; it was nothing he couldn't handle however.

"Sasuke-kun, So nice of you to join me." Orochimaru's voice seemed to flow with the wind that was beginning to pick up.

Sasuke grabbed a Kunai from his pouch, and activated his Sharingan. "Come out you coward, and fight like a real man!" He put his hands together in a basic seal and flared his chakra like the plan said. Once the signal was out he looked around the see where Orochimaru was.

_It will take the other two about seven, maybe eight minutes to reach me. If he doesn't attack this will be very simple_. Unfortunately, nothing simple ever occurs with Sasuke, as the tree branch he was standing on suddenly exploded into hundred of small splinters.

He looked down at the darkness below him with his Sharingan activated; he could see the man he had wanted to kill for so long. "Orochimaru! I'm going to kill you!"

"So I've heard," He chuckled slightly, "I see that you have been training quite a bit since you have come back, you shouldn't have stabbed me and used that jutsu boy," Orochimaru glared at him, his yellow eyes the only thing that glowed within the darkness, "It seems that I will have to teach you a lesson in respect once more."

Sasuke looked utterly surprised, his mouth fell open, and he looked on in open shock, "You're back?!" He shouted, "I stabbed you with Kusanagi! How did you come back in time, or even get enough chakra to do it?"

"The men who willingly served my village sufficed, even then they did not have nearly enough chakra as Kyuubi did to send me back as far as you went." He said, "Sasuke, I really didn't like the wound you gave me as a… farewell gift, it was quite painful, one useful thing did come of it." He grabbed the blade from his belt, "The blade you had is now mine once again. I think I'll stab you once, maybe twice, but oh, I can't do that can't I, you might die. But if it lures the Kyuubi here, I might as well do it."

"What do you want with Naruto?"

"He'll become my new container of course!" Orochimaru laughed, "I have been toying with the idea for a long time in the other timeline, but now that I am here, and you have proven yourself far too dangerous to me, I decided I am going to kill you instead, and take the Kyuubi for myself."

"You'll die." Sasuke said, "If you even attempt to take him, the demon would rip you apart."

He shrugged, "Maybe, but the demon is far more powerful than even your eyes. I will do anything to gain ultimate power."

"You're not getting him as your container Orochimaru! Your life ends today!" Sasuke made several hand seals before blowing a large fireball out of his mouth at the person in front of him. Orochimaru simply melted away, it was only a clone made of mud.

Sasuke heard movement behind him, so he quickly jumped away, knowing that no Kunai would be able to hold off the sword Orochimaru was using. The ground Sasuke was standing on mere seconds ago suddenly exploded, making dirt and dust flow everywhere.

"My, Sasuke, you've certainly improved since the last time we met in this forest. I can recall that you were terrified to fight me, now it seems you're eager. How times have changed." Orochimaru laughed as he charged at Sasuke once more.

Sasuke barely dodged the side, he could tell that he wasn't even a match for Orochimaru, and could only hold him off for at most, maybe twenty minutes at most if he didn't get help soon – luckily he knew his friends would be there to help him.

"Pay attention boy!" Orochimaru screamed as he swept the ground Sasuke stood on.

Sasuke flipped over it, and ran back a bit so he could see Orochimaru in front him. He put his hand down and had his other hold onto it, and an electric charge began to form. _I can use this technique about ten times before I can't use it anymore. I can't be reckless, two misses are ok, but anymore will be a waste of my stamina._

The electricity began to make a chirping sound, and a large blue hue emitted the area. "You're going to die Orochimaru!" Sasuke shouted as he raised his hand and began to run forward at the man who seemed to just stand there and smirk at his charge.

"Chido-!" Sasuke suddenly was slashed across the back, as the Orochimaru in front of him suddenly melted into mud, and the one behind him had a huge grin on his face. Sasuke suddenly disappeared and a log split in two was in front of Orochimaru.

"I figured I couldn't take you out so easily." Orochimaru sighed; he looked up to where Sasuke was on the side of a tree. He threw several Shuriken and ran at the snake bastard.

He got right up to the man and continued to dodge the sword while he began to do a series of hand seals, when he was completed, he dodged the sword once more and brought his hand to his mouth and shouted, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" The huge fireball that blew Orochimaru back made him explode into a huge amount of smoke.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" Orochimaru exclaimed as he came down from the trees. He slashed again, which Sasuke yet again dodged, but suddenly he shot snakes from his sleeves and managed to grip Sasuke, and began to drag him forth.

Sasuke struggled with the grip the snakes had on both of his arms. It made it impossible for him to get his hands together to do seals, and he couldn't move his feet at all. Shit! _What am I going to do?_ He thought in panic.

"You know, I was debating whether or not to give this to you, but now that you're in my grasp, without much of a struggle at all, I think I'll give you my Curse Mark and make you suffer before you die." He chuckled as Sasuke looked at him with panic.

Orochimaru extended his head like a real snake once more towards Sasuke, who was reliving the moment from before over again. _What to do? AH!_ He figured something out and smirked. Orochimaru saw it too late, and right when he was about to bite the child, electricity came from all over the body, destroyed the snakes holding the boy, and burning his face, making him retract back to his own body.

"Gah! What the hell is that?" He shouted in anger, holding his face in his hands.

"You don't remember?" Sasuke asked, getting off the ground, "Something I learned while I was with you, a Chidori that can cover my entire body."

Orochimaru glanced up, and simply tore off the skin of his face, replacing it with a new coating. "Of course, how could I forget that?" He looked Sasuke in the eye and said, "Well, child, I can't imagine what I'll do to you now once I exhaust your chakra."

Sasuke glared at Orochimaru and said, "Doubt you have long enough." He then went onto the offensive as Orochimaru jumped back onto a branch of a tree. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted, making sure to keep Orochimaru on the run. The multiple fireballs all landed mere centimeters behind Orochimaru as he ran forth, avoiding all of the flames. When he dodged them all, he landed on the ground and looked quite annoyed.

Orochimaru got up and sighed, "Ok brat, now you die!" He jumped at Sasuke and slashed his blade at him several times, but suddenly stopped when he heard a familiar voice coming from above.

Naruto came down doing a series of hand seals making a gust of wind formed around Orochimaru and began to slice him all over. Orochimaru surged his chakra to destroy the technique Naruto had used on him.

"So it seems your friends have come to assist you now boy. But where is the other one?" Orochimaru looked all around.

Suddenly a rumble was felt under him, and as he jumped away the ground he was standing on suddenly was lifted, "Familiar with Doton Jutsus?" Sakura asked as she threw the huge amount of dirt she was holding together with her chakra.

It exploded and created a huge cloud of dust and dirt around the area, concealing everyone.

"Well, now we can't see him, this can't be good." Naruto muttered as he and Sasuke stood next to each other, he held Sasuke's sleeve to make sure they wouldn't get separated.

"Don't worry." Sakura said appearing next to them, "I have my chakra in each bit of dirt in the air; right now we have the advantage." She whispered to them, "Orochimaru is coming at us from the left!"

Orochimaru was expecting to slash right through Sakura, but was surprised when she grabbed the blade of his, the chakra on her hand separating it from cutting her, and punched him as hard as she could in the gut, knocking him in the trees again. "You're just as annoying as Tsunade." He muttered as he got up once more.

_Note to self: Ask Sakura how she does the chakra technique with dirt. _Naruto thought to himself until Orochimaru's laugh cut his chain of thoughts off.

"HA! You three children think you can actually kill me?" He flew through a set of hand seals and began to shout, "I hope you all are prepared to fight my legion of snakes!" Right when he was about to finish the summoning jutsu, a large wall of sand appeared behind him and engulfed him, causing him to stop the technique he was about to finish.

"No one," Gaara muttered, "No one will kill the ones I am going to kill." He stood on the forest floor, all his sand covering Orochimaru, Temari and Kankuro both looked afraid as they saw the three people, and the one who thought they could take the trio.

Temari looked on, and said, "Gaara, we really shouldn't interfere with their fight."

"Don't tell me what to do, or I'll kill you." He said without even looking at her, he continued to look up at the mass of sand and shouted, "Sabaku Sousou!" The sand around Orochimaru exploded and smoke covered the area where blood should have rained down. Gaara looked more amused than anything else.

Sakura looked afraid, not for herself, but amazingly for Gaara, "Kazekage-." She shook her head, "Gaara! He's way above your league right now! Run away!"

"Did she just say Kazekage?" Kankuro said, disregarding her warning.

"I- I think so," Both of them looked at Gaara, they couldn't even imagine the murderer of a brother they had could ever attain such a position.

Gaara ignored his relatives and said, "You think I am incapable of protecting myself?" He looked around for the man he thought he had crushed, "Now where is he," His sand came back down to him, and slowly circled around him, protecting him from anything that could harm him.

Orochimaru suddenly appeared behind him and stabbed right through the barrier of sand that came up and through the armor of sand Gaara wore.

"Gaara!" Temari shouted, surprised that anything like that could even happen to him.

Gaara's eyes were wide as Orochimaru pulled the blade out of him. He slowly raised his arm up to the wound in his chest and rubbed the blood pouring out of it. "Wha- What is this?" He suddenly felt the pain kick in, and fell on his knees, his scream echoed throughout the forest.

"GAARA!" Naruto tried to run down to him, but Orochimaru got into his way.

"I don't think so boy! You're going to either fight me, or let the kid die!" Orochimaru grinned as Naruto's eyes flared a deep red hue, his professional stance was now gone.

"I'm going to KILL YOU!" Naruto slashed his now formed claws at the man and missed. "Stop running you coward!" He chased Orochimaru through the forest.

Sasuke knew exactly what Orochimaru was planning and shouted, "NARUTO! He's leading you away! He can take us one on one, but if we work together we can beat him!" Naruto didn't even heed his warning. "Shit! Sakura! Heal Gaara, I'm going to help Naruto!"

Sakura looked angered, "What! Why do I have to stay back and do this! I want to help too!"

"You can't!" Sasuke grabbed her shoulders, near shaking her, "Gaara is too important for this timeline, if Orochimaru manages to screw this up you know what can happen!"

Sakura looked down, "You're right." She looked worried, "Make sure Naruto doesn't do anything stupid, ok?"

Sasuke smiled and said, "It's a promise!" He jumped off following Naruto's trail.

"You better keep that one." She muttered. She looked down at the three below her. Gaara had fallen into unconsciousness, and surprisingly the demon wasn't taking over, probably because of the poison in his blade. Temari and near tears as she tried to wrap the wound in bandages, but the wounded area was looking worse after each second. Kankuro was simply shocked that Gaara was taken down so easily.

Sakura jumped down to the ground where the three were and said, "Ok, I'm a medical ninja, let me heal him!" She tried to push pass Temari, but she stood her ground.

"You're just going to hurt him! He's in the worst state ever, I would imagine father told you to kill him right now and-" Temari was going to continue, but Sakura burst out in anger saying:

"Let me see him! He's too damn important to die now! Besides, your father is dead now anyway!" She shoved Temari away with her strength and got on her knees on Gaara's side, who was lying down now with his hands on his side, his sand was scattered all around the place, probably unable to work without the conscious of whoever controlled the body.

Sakura quickly got a string from her Kunai pouch and tied her hair back. Afterwards she breathed in and out really quickly before putting both her hands over the wound. "It appears that the poison has spread to his lungs, stopping his breathing, this is a very powerful poison, you're lucky I'm here."

"Th-thank you," Temari muttered, unsure of what to do in front of the girl. _She says father is dead? _

Kankuro finally got out of his shock and asked, "Is he going to be fine? We're in the middle of the exam here," He muttered, trying to act like he didn't care much for his brother's injury.

"I need to get this poison out of him, and I don't have the proper equipment to do it with. I can't take him out because apparently you guys can't manage to live without entering the next stage of these damn exams. Stop asking me questions and I'll see what I can do, so shut up!" Sakura exclaimed, glaring at him, he backed off, knowing the anger of a woman too well.

Sakura got her canteen and poured water over her hand, formed a bubble with it with her chakra and poured her chakra into it to make it into a green colored one. She put it on the wound to clean up the dirt and poison remaining on the outside of it, and proceeded to go on to where his lungs were located and began to clean them out of poison. Gaara had no reaction; to any normal human this would be incredibly painful.

_Naruto, Sasuke, please be all right_. She thought as she continued to work on the fallen boy.

(Near the edge of the Forest of Death)

Naruto slashed at Orochimaru once more, and yet again missed, only destroying the branch the snake bastard stood on only minutes before. "Why do you keep running?" He wasn't near angry enough to lose control and have chakra tails form behind him, but he was definitely considering it. "Sasuke! Sakura!" He turned to look behind him and noticed that they were long gone from where they originally were.

"You fell for my trap rather easily Naruto." Orochimaru said with a large grin on his face, "You're so easy to mess around with, and now with your friends gone I am going to beat you down until I can make you my vessel."

Naruto glared, his red eyes almost seem to go a deeper shade of red, "No way in hell am I going to become your vessel!"

"Of course not, Naruto-kun," He said, "I think we're far enough, your two friends are probably busy working on that Gaara child right now. What a pain that child was in the previous timeline, maybe I should have killed him." He looked thoughtful, only managing to piss Naruto off even more.

_NO!_ He shook his head, don't give into Kyuubi's chakra…Naruto took a deep breath and calmed down to the point where the demonic aura surrounding him went away. A smile appeared on his face completely confusing Orochimaru. "Sakura-chan is a very powerful medical ninja, I don't need to worry about Gaara, and I believe Sasuke should be coming soon."

"Now you need to worry about yourself boy." Orochimaru said as he advanced towards him, "Even with Kyuubi at your disposal, I will defeat you."

Suddenly three kunai with explosive notes stabbed the ground at Orochimaru's feet, and exploded before he could even react to them. Naruto looked surprised, and looked over to where the kunai had come from.

"Kakashi!" Naruto shouted in shock, "Took you long enough!"

"I am sorry Naruto." Kakashi said, "We had to assemble the ANBU, and the Hokage will be coming shortly. We plan to exterminate him right now."

Orochimaru looked annoyed, "Damn it! Sharingan Kakashi, just the person I wanted to see." He said with Sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I'm touched, really."

"Naruto, Kakashi!" Sasuke jumped on Naruto's left side, and smirked, "You're an idiot sometimes Naruto, running off like that!"

Naruto feigned sadness, "Aw, Sasuke, you're going to make me cry now!"

Orochimaru only smiled at their actions, "I will defeat you all before the ANBU arrive, then I will take Naruto for myself!" He began to fly through hand seals once more, when he managed to complete them he bit his thumb and shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto and Sasuke both tensed up when smoke filled the area.

The hissing of snakes is what answered the three standing there, and as soon as the smoke cleared, Orochimaru was standing amongst at least ten gigantic snakes. Orochimaru laughed at the expression on their faces, "Now you will all die!" He pointed at them, "Kill them my minions, but spare the one with the blonde hair!"

The snakes didn't wait another second and charged forward. However, they all disappeared before the snakes made contact. Orochimaru looked around, annoyed that he lost them so quickly.

"Rasengan!" Naruto fell from above as he attempted to hit Orochimaru off the snakes head he was standing on in an attempt to kill him, but unfortunately, Orochimaru grabbed his wrist, canceling the Jutsu out.

"Naruto-kun, you're going to have to move faster than that." He smiled, "You want that seal back that I gave you here in the past? I wouldn't mind." His finger tips began to glow with chakra, "Come now, don't be afraid!" He thrust his fingers into the chest of Naruto, who suddenly blew up into smoke.

Orochimaru was slightly annoyed, but shook it off. He then heard a shout of, "Chidori!" Sasuke charged at him from behind with another electrical ball of power in his hand. He threw his hand forth to hit Orochimaru, who managed to dodge most of the attack, growled.

"MINIONS! Kill them!" He shouted, and watched the snakes go forward, attempting to crush the two boys and Kakashi.

As the snakes moved they destroyed a lot of smaller trees in the forest as they attempted to zigzag around the forest after the ninja. Kakashi and Sasuke got together, and both made a chidori of their own. A snake attempted to take them out, but when it charged at them, they were able to evade its bite and sent their attack into its eyes, sending it back to where it came from.

Naruto meanwhile was being chased by the largest of the snakes, and it actually managed to capture him in his mouth, but Naruto held it open, but was quickly being overpowered by the snake.

Right when it was about to swallow Naruto Orochimaru screamed, "NO! Don't kill that one! I need him as my vessel!"

The snake gave Orochimaru a very angry look, but otherwise ignored Naruto. It turned its attention away from Naruto – A big mistake. Naruto grinned and jumped on the snakes head; he still had his Kunai in hand and slowly climbed up the snake which began to thrash violently around to get Naruto off of him.

Unfortunately for the snake Naruto managed to take it out, sending it back in a large explosion of smoke.

"Are you all right Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, fine." He coughed, "I wish summons didn't turn to smoke when they go away though."

Orochimaru was annoyed and about to go attack Kakashi, but at that moment Sasuke appeared right in front of him, "I believe we have a fight to settle?" He said getting into his fighting stance.

"Hm, you're using the stance I taught you against me." He grinned, "I'm glad something I taught you was of some use!"

"I use whatever will help me achieve my goals best." Sasuke said, "Now fight me."

Orochimaru laughed a little and said, "Sorry, but I would much rather go after your dear little friend." He suddenly melted away into a mud puddle.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke turned around and saw Naruto fighting the snakes along with Kakashi, both of them holding their ground. Unfortunately, due to all that, Naruto was unable to hear Sasuke's warnings.

"Damn it!" Sasuke cursed, and made his way over to him.

(Back to Gaara)

Temari and Kankuro were still standing back, not wanting to get in Sakura's way at all. Finally after what seemed like so long, Sakura let out a long sigh and leaned back on her hands. "Ok, he's stable. He'll be alright. Give him a few days to rest and he'll be ready for the rest of the exams."

"Are you sure?" Temari asked, worry seeping into her voice.

"Of course I am." Sakura gave them a reassuring smile. Her face then got serious as she looked off to where Naruto and Sasuke went off to, "I need to go help the rest of my team, you three go on, okay?"

Right before she left, she heard coughing from behind her and heard, "Haruno, I am going to kill you." Gaara barely had his eyes open as he looked at the girl about to run off.

"You're welcome." She said through gritted teeth, she had forgotten how completely rude and unkind Gaara was when he was a twelve year old kid. "You're lucky you have Shukaku within you, otherwise you'd have to drop out of the exam."

Gaara had an evil grin on his face, "Heh, I think I may rest now, Mother is busy fixing me up," He let his head hit the ground; "I'll owe you one favor before you die Haruno."

"Fair enough," She sighed, "Well, Gaara, I have to go now, please don't get into too much trouble." With that she turned away and jumped off after her teammates.

"Why do you think she treats Gaara so nicely? Doesn't he want to kill her?" Kankuro asked questioningly towards his sister, a confused look was on his face.

Temari shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "No clue."

(Back to Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi)

Sasuke was knocked back by a snake, while Kakashi was busy handling several of them on his own. Naruto was doing no better, for Orochimaru had his tongue around his neck and rose him in the air before slamming him against several trees and throwing him down on the ground.

"That hurt," Naruto muttered, getting up, he had many cuts on bruises all over him, and his vest was now in ruins, underneath it he wore his black ninja outfit. He simply grabbed the vest and tossed it away, "Sasuke, I think I may have to use Kyuubi."

"If he didn't come back, we wouldn't be having this much trouble," Sasuke glared at Orochimaru who only returned it with much more force.

He slowly got up to stand next to Naruto, suddenly the ground under both of them shifted and multiple snakes flew out and gripped their hands and feet, Sasuke was about to use his full body Chidori, but Orochimaru quickly jumped down and stabbed him in the right shoulder, making sure to not hit anything vital.

"Now, I have you right where I need both of you…" He smiled.

"No!" Kakashi charged at the man, dodging the snakes attempting to stop him, and tried to stab him with his kunai, but Orochimaru easily deflected it, and kicked the man down.

"Now now, don't interfere Kakashi." He said as snakes began to slither around Kakashi's arms and legs, tightening him onto the tree. He struggled, but couldn't escape from the hold. Orochimaru grinned at the two children he had, both were badly beaten up, and he had to admit, he wasn't in very good shape either, he was very lucky he managed to summoned the snakes to assist him in taking them out. "Now, since I have both of you, I assume you will want the Curse Mark from me, yes?"

"Screw you!" Naruto spat in his face, "Now let me go and I'll kick you ass!"

Orochimaru ignored Naruto's protest and formed another clone of himself, "I'll give you both it at the same time. It'll be fun to see you two suffer."

"Damn you Orochimaru!" Kakashi struggled to get out of his entrapment, "The Hokage will be here any minute!"

"Oh?" Orochimaru said, "Where is he then? It has been quite some time since you last said that; don't you think he would be here by now if a large threat like I was around?" At Kakashi's glare he ordered the snake to knock the man out, fully intending on returning to him later. He then turned back to the kids, "Now stand still Naruto-kun."

"Even if I do get it, I will never fall into the darkness of the seal!" Naruto shouted, "And Sasuke has changed! He's not going to fall back onto the fake power that it gives!"

"Fake?" Orochimaru questioned, a smirk was present on his face, "My dear Naruto-kun, I'd hardly call it fake, but if you must, I'll let you find out for yourself!"

Naruto and Sasuke were pressed harder against trees by the snakes, and Sasuke was beginning to droop from consciousness, the poison in his system was beginning to have its effect. "No," He muttered, "Mustn't let it… get me…"

Both of the Orochimaru's began to extend their heads towards the necks of Naruto and Sasuke, ready to give them the seal.

Suddenly Sakura crashed down from the trees and punched right through the neck of the clone, making it explode and saving Sasuke, she then saw Naruto was about to be bitten and did the most drastic measure ever. "Naruto!" She shouted as she dived towards him.

All was silent, under Orochimaru released his teeth from the neck of the child he had just bitten. He looked confused, this was not Naruto. "What is this?" He made his head retract back to his own body and looked wide-eyed as Sakura fell to the ground, a mark on her neck, "NO! You little bitch! I'm going to kill you!"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto looked shocked, sad, and more than anything, angry, "You," He looked at Orochimaru from Sakura, "You bastard!" Tears filled his eyes, and a red hue began to glow from them, "YOU BASTARD!" Red chakra erupted from him, destroying the snakes that were holding him, and with very surprising speed, he gave Orochimaru the hardest punch to the jaw he had ever received.

Orochimaru flew far away and collided with another tree, making it fall down from where it once stood. He slowly climbed out of the rubble and looked on as Naruto had red chakra begin to cover all parts of his body, "And so Kyuubi finally emerges."

"**I won't underestimate you this time!"** Naruto shouted, his voice was a mix of his own and some other demonic voice, "**You poisoned Sasuke, and gave Sakura that mark, in return I'm going to KILL YOU**!" He charged at Orochimaru, a chakra tail formed right behind him.

Orochimaru brought up his hands to block the blow Naruto was going to throw out, and was surprised when Naruto hit his arms that were defending his face, nearly breaking them both and making him fly further away.

"**It's not over yet**!" Naruto shouted, and slowly walked at Orochimaru, two chakra tails flowing all over the place right behind him, "**Remember what I promised**,"

"Show me his power Naruto-kun!" Orochimaru laughed, as he flew through a set of hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground, causing a huge wall of rocks to come up from the ground in front of Orochimaru and bury Naruto.

Naruto simply grinned evilly at it, and raised one arm, causing it to burn a hole right through the avalanche that was coming right upon him. "**You'll have to do better than that**!"

Kill him…

Naruto stopped in his tracks; he could feel his mentality beginning to turn to a more feral one, _what is this?_ He could feel the power flowing through his veins, the want to kill was welling up inside of him, and he glanced at Orochimaru with hate in his eyes.

Kill him now…

_No!_ Naruto shook his head, _I promised Sakura-chan and Sasuke that I wouldn't use your chakra you damn fox! _Naruto tried to push it away, but one look at the two he mentioned, and all his reasoning went away. Sakura was curled up into a ball, holding in her screams of pain as the seal took its toll, and Sasuke was begin to get very sick because of the poison the blade pushed into his body.

NOW! KILL!

_Kill…_ Nauto glanced up at Orochimaru, his sanity nearly depleted, "Yes. Orochimaru, I will, **KILL YOU!**" He charged once more, engaging combat with the one he swore to kill without using the kyuubi's power.

Sakura glanced up at the fight occurring, and then looked at Sasuke with the sword wound in his shoulder. She then curled back up as another wave of pain shot through her; tears fell from her eyes for it hurt her so much. "I need to help them." She slowly uncurled after the next wave, and wiped her tears away. "Sasuke!"

She crawled over to him, and looked at the wound he had, "I- I…" _I can't do this! _She looked desperately at the wound, blood poured out of it and onto the ground, and she could see bits of the poison seeping out, It's not as much as Gaara's but-. She tightly shut her eyes as the mark on her neck gave her another wave of pain, causing her to nearly scream out in pain this time.

_Can I do this? I need to concentrate, but with this pain. _She touched the mark on her neck, and instantly felt the biggest wave of pain and screamed in pain as she looked down on the ground holding her head, tears freely falling from her eyes.

"It hurts!" She looked at Sasuke and saw him beginning to pale; _I need to save you_! She thought, and brought out her water, it was half empty, a little more than enough to finish this. She poured it on her hands and concentrated her chakra to form a bubble of water on her hands, but when she brought out her chakra, the curse mark reacted violently, causing all the water to splatter to the ground and her to once more fall over in pain.

"DAMN IT!" She shouted, clutching the side of her neck, which only caused more pain, she was close to passing out from it all. _SASUKE! Don't die!_ She quickly grabbed her water once more, and concentrating her chakra, she knew this was going to hurt her, but if she failed Sasuke would die. She formed a bubble and the intense pain returned once more, the bubble wavered, but she kept it stable as it turned a slight green hue.

She put it over Sasuke's wound and pulled the poison out of it, and then followed the most logical path it would have taken through his body. Every five seconds she would stop as an intense wave of pain went through her and she kept in a scream. Finally, after extracting all the poison, she threw the water in her hands away into the wild, and focused on closing the hole. She gathered a little bit of chakra at the tip of her fingers and slowly connected each side of the flesh until the wound was closed.

"There…," She muttered, closing her eyes as a few tears escaped and the pain continued to grow worse. She looked up and saw Naruto and Orochimaru fighting. "Naruto," She whispered as she saw the three tails he now had and Orochimaru dodging each attack, a small smile on his face, "He's playing with him?" She asked no one in particular.

She slowly stood up, the pain caused her to fall back down and clutch her neck once more. After a little bit, she got up. "Naruto," She mumbled as she walked forth, her mind was beginning to shut down, as she was about to fall unconscious. "Naruto…"

Naruto attempted to slash Orochimaru, and only succeeded in getting mud all over himself as the one in front of him was another clone. "**Where are you?**"

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted with the last of her might as the darkness finally filled her vision; she fell to the ground completely unconscious.

Naruto glanced at her fallen form, then at Sasuke. "**You guys, **You guys!" He shook himself out of his daze, and as quickly as it came, his Kyuubi chakra went away, he didn't know, but at that moment, the demonic chakra was about to take him over, he was very lucky Sakura knocked him out of it so quickly.

"Well, Naruto-kun. You are powerful, but yet, not near good enough to take me on. I hope one day we can have a real fight where you needn't rely on that horrible demon, and instead fight with out own powers." Orochimaru shrugged his shoulders, "Either way, when you're that angry I can easily toy with you. If you could control that chakra I would be in trouble," He then pulled out his sword, "Now move aside as I go finish off your team."

"Do you really think I would do that?" Naruto said as he stood in front of the man, "They wouldn't let you get close to me, so I am not going to let them down!"

"Poor Naruto-kun." Orochimaru said smiling, "You're far too weak now to even stand a remote chance against me, what makes you think you could stop me from killing them all?"

As if on cue at least a dozen men in ANBU robes dropped down, and faced Orochimaru, "Stand down, and we'll make your death quick."

"How about no," Orochimaru answered, and the man who asked the question was suddenly hit from behind by one of Orochimaru's snakes he summoned. At that distraction, he disappeared.

"Don't let him get away! All of you go after him, we'll allow the Hokage to help these people here!" He turned to Naruto, "Go check on your team, we'll go get him now!" Naruto didn't even wait for him to finish as he turned towards his team.

Naruto ran over to the fallen body of Sakura, "Sakura-chan!" He grabbed her and put her head in his lap; he looked at the left side of her neck and saw the curse mark pulsing an almost purple hue. "No! It's all my fault! Why did you do this Sakura-chan?" He felt tears leaving his eyes.

He then picked her up and walked over to Sasuke, where he put her down next to him, at least when they were both asleep, he couldn't hear the pain they both must have been going through at the last moments of their consciousness. After making sure his two teammates were fine, he went over to Kakashi and check his status.

"You're not poisoned," Naruto let out a sigh of relief and began to try and shake the man awake, "Kakashi-sensei, are you there?"

It took a little bit, but Kakashi was beginning to regain consciousness, "Urgh, I have a huge headache…"

"Naruto!" Anko landed in the middle of the completely destroyed clearing, trees were blown out of their roots, and the ground was completely vaporized, "What the hell happened here?!"

Naruto spat on the ground, "Orochimaru happened." He glared angrily at Kakashi, "You guys knew he was coming, what took you all so long? I know you felt our chakra flare while we were fighting him! Because of how late they were, Sakura got the Cursed Mark, and Sasuke could have died!" Tears fell from his eyes, "I had to use Kyuubi! Even when I told them I would never rely on his power again." He fell to the ground; his morale for the moment was completely depleted.

Another dozen ANBU appeared in the clearing; most were shocked to see the place in such ruins, and glanced at the team that supposedly caused it all fighting Orochimaru. The Hokage himself suddenly appeared, and shot Naruto a concerned look, "Naruto!" He shouted as he ran over to the boy.

"Old man," Naruto muttered, he looked up and glared at the man, "You knew this was going to happen Where were you? We could have killed him if you had gotten here sooner." Naruto felt betrayed, angry, and most of all saddened that the one man he trusted the most had done nothing during their fight.

Sarutobi sighed, he knew this would happen, but let it go on anyways. "Naruto, I knew Orochimaru was here, we just needed to assemble the ANBU, and warn Anko about it so that-"

"Why didn't you come yourself? You could have just forgotten about the paper work and broken the rules, and Konoha's most deadly criminal would be dead! Instead you did absolutely nothing to help us!"

Kakashi went over to Naruto and grabbed him by the collar, "Naruto! You're stepping over your boundaries! You can't speak to the Hokage like that!"

"Whatever Kakashi-sensei." Naruto muttered, "At least you came right away…"

Kakashi paused, and let Naruto go, "We need to get Sakura and Sasuke to the hospital immediately. You too, that battle took a lot of you all, I can tell."

The Hokage nodded, but couldn't hide his shame. _Naruto is right, I should have acted faster. I was too busy following village protocol, and look where it got me._

(Konoha Hospital)

There was a periodic beep that sounded every few seconds it seemed. Naruto shook his head and could feel bandages wrapped all around him without even opening his eyes. He grunted in annoyance and slowly opened his eyes. White ceiling, white walls, medical equipment to his right, yep, the Hospital. How he despised this place.

He lifted his head off the pillow it was on and glanced over at the other two beds in the room. Sakura was on the one next to him, and Sasuke was the furthest one from him. From his view his eyes watered slightly when he saw the Mark on Sakura's neck, but a sigh of relief came out when he saw that there was apparently another seal covering it.

_Thank you Kakashi,_ He silently thanked.

He moved his fingers around a bit, and he managed to lift himself up. He then looked over to Sasuke, who was in the same condition he and Sakura seem to be in, however Sakura looked a lot less beat up than both he and Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan," He muttered, looking at her still form, the only thing movement was her chest as it slowly rose and went back down after each breath she took. "I'm sorry. That was going for me… Why did you get in the way?"

He knew there would be no answer, so he looked back at his body. Bandages were wrapped all around him, and some needles were stuck in his body, taped to him. _Why do they do this when they could simply do medical jutsu? _He pondered, but shook his head as he grabbed one and slowly pulled it out of himself.

Once he got all the needles out, he threw the blanket off of himself and got out of the bed. He felt pretty good actually, he had no idea why he was in the hospital, but was pretty sure that if Sakura weren't in this condition, she'd be able to list off all the reasons without even looking at him. He felt the material of the white clothes he was now wearing, it was actually pretty soft.

He walked over to her and got some hair out of her face, putting it behind her ear. _There you go, _He again looked at the Curse Mark to make sure that it was really there and silently cursed to himself.

The door suddenly opened and Sarutobi walked in, he still wore his Hokage robes, but his face was twisted in worry and sadness. Naruto felt no sympathy towards the man.

"Naruto," He spoke, "I apologize."

"I'm sure you do," He glanced at Sakura and begrudgingly said, "Thanks for sealing up that for her." He looked away, not wanting the man to get the impression that he was forgiving him.

Sarutobi sighed, he knew this would happen, but he hadn't expected to be thanked for the seal he and Kakashi put on Sakura. "You're welcome Naruto." When Naruto didn't answer back and continued to look at Sakura he spoke up again and said, "You all have been asleep for four days so far. The second part of the exam is coming to a close soon."

"Really," Naruto muttered, paying him almost no heed.

Sarutobi looked down and said, "Look, Naruto. What happened in there? The place was destroyed, and you all were badly injured. You had chakra burns all over your body and many injuries and broken bones. Sasuke was in a similar state, but we found traces of poison, which we quickly got rid of, and Sakura's chakra pathways were in horrible condition. We almost called in a Hyuuga to help us with her."

Naruto looked down, "Sasuke, Kakashi, and I were actually doing very well against Orochimaru. It was when he summoned his snakes that we had a lot of trouble. I think he stabbed Sasuke with his sword, and I used Kyuubi to fight him."

Sarutobi nodded, "That explains yours and Sasuke's condition, but what happened to Sakura?"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto glanced at her once more, "When Orochimaru had me and Sasuke pinned down he was going to give both of us the mark, but she destroyed the one going for Sasuke, and didn't have enough time to save me from my fate, so what does she do!" He was near shouting, "she jumped in front of the one that was going for me!" He looked angered, "I have Kyuubi in me you know, I think I can handle that seal!"

He fell to the ground, near breaking down. Sarutobi looked at the child, the one who only days ago seemed so strong and could easily lead them, and he was now reduced to this. "Naruto." He stated firmly, "I know, that you may not trust me now, but I need you, and so does this village. This attitude you have is acceptable, considering what has just happened, but we need you to be strong for now."

Naruto looked at Sakura then the Hokage once more, " I don't know," He then got a determined look in his eyes, "No, you're right. I need to save this village."

"Good to hear." Both Sarutobi and Naruto looked over to Sasuke who nodded towards them.

"Sasuke!" Naruto ran over to his bed and hugged the guy near to death until he let go, "Thank god you're ok. I thought Orochimaru stabbed you with that poison blade!"

Sasuke looked thoughtful and said, "I think a medic came at just the right time." He motioned his head towards Sakura, "I'm amazed at how screwed up we got this timeline within three years."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "But we did more good so far than bad."

Sasuke shrugged, "Possibly. We don't know though, three years is a short time, and anything can happen in the future because of the things we are doing now," He then looked at Sakura once more and sighed, "I'm glad she lived getting the curse. I was nearly passed out when she got it. I wish I could have helped."

"Orochimaru is still too strong for us," Naruto frowned, "What can we do to bring him down to our level?"

"Hokage-sama." Sasuke looked very serious that moment, "Orochimaru has come back from the future like we have. He's much stronger than he was at this point in our old timeline. I think we could have killed him if it weren't for that fact."

He got out of bed in a similar fashion of Naruto and walked over to Sakura's bed. "You'll need to help her out when she wakes up." Sasuke said immediately, "When she awakes she'll quickly find the power of the seal behind a barrier of sorts, and it is very tempting to use," Sasuke sighed, "Remember when I first got the seal? I used the power instant because I had no clue what it was."

Naruto got a worried look on his face, "Don't worry. I'll be here to help her through that."

"Good. I refused the help when I needed it, and since Sakura is not me or a complete bitch, I think she'll quickly take your assistance when she needs it." Sasuke explained.

Sarutobi watched as the children seem to grow much less tense and chatted, "You two, make sure to get back into your beds when you're done chatting, even though both of you look pretty well, I'm sure if Sakura here wakes up, she'll need a familiar face to help her out."

Naruto glanced at the Hokage, "I understand." He simply said.

He left at that, Sasuke and Naruto stayed up to chat for a while longer, figuring out what needed to be done. After a little while they both decided it was time to head to sleep, and went into their own hospitals beds for the night.

(Later that night)

Sakura stirred in her sleep for the first time that night, it was nearly two in the morning, but at that instant she felt a pang of sickness hit her. She suddenly got up and rolled off her bed, luckily her physical wounds weren't near as bad as her internal injuries, and she didn't harm anything when she fell.

When she hit the cold floor, she tried to hold it in, but within only a matter of seconds, her resistance was destroyed and she threw up on the floor, she let out a whimper and wrapped her hands around herself, suddenly feeling miserably cold.

"N- Naruto," She whispered, praying that he was somewhere near, her mind was too confused to figure out where she was, and she was frightened to say the least. The last she saw was Sasuke near death, and Naruto was in Kyuubi mode trying to kill Orochimaru.

She then remembered the one thing that shocked even her. She slowly and shakily brought her hands up to her neck, and felt the spot where the mark was. She felt warmth, calming warmth. It was as if it beckoned her to come to it, and use it.

"No," She whispered, knowing what it was, she could feel it, and knew that it was the power of the Mark she had gotten, she tried to stand, but her constant shaking, plus the fact that when she tried to another pang of sickness hit her, made it difficult. She quickly fell to the floor and held her chest as she breath in and out rapidly, hoping she would throw up once more. "Naruto…" She whispered again.

She felt again the power from the seal. She looked around and could only see darkness, she then felt tears come out of her eyes as she was about to accept the power and warmth the seal was going to provide her.

She then felt two warm hands wrap around her back, and a soothing voice saying, "Sakura-chan I'm right here, Please, don't be afraid."

She didn't even resist as the boy behind her picked her up and brought her back up to her bed. It definitely beat trying to do it herself and possibly having to get sick some more. "N- Naruto, where are we?" She held onto him as he put her on the bed, not letting him go.

"It's ok Sakura-chan; we're in the Hospital. Kakashi sealed up the mark for you." He looked almost pleading, "Sakura-chan, I promise to never use Kyuubi, if you never use the Curse Mark. Please."

"Naruto, I wouldn't use the mark even if it were life or death situation." She felt like smiling then, having someone there to hold her that she knew she would be safe with, and not using a huge powerful source now within her was something to be proud of.

Naruto was about to leave, but Sakura's grip on him tightened. Naruto knew he could easily break the grip, it was definitely weak from what Sakura would normal do. "Naruto," She sounded as if she was about to break down, "Don't leave me."

"Sakura-chan," He was about to protest, but he saw the pleading look on her face, and some fresh tears on her frightened looking face caused him to choose otherwise, "Fine." He gave in.

She scooted over so he could have the spot next to her, and he laid down there. Naruto knew that she was in a near panicked state, and anything he did could scare her, it was so different from her usual tough act. He closed his eyes, and felt Sakura scoot over and wrap her arms around his arm, and put her head against his shoulder. "Night, Naruto.." She said drowsing to sleep.

"Good night Sakura-chan," He said, a smile on his face when he felt her sigh of relief. He knew what it was like to be alone when you needed someone, and for him to be there for Sakura would definitely make his lifetime, he was sure that if he died right now, he'd die the happiest man in the world. However, thoughts about what happened ruined that chain of happy thoughts…

The two both dosed off shortly after getting together, and the night continued on.

(Next morning)

"Wake up you two." Sasuke muttered, _even at a time like this they let their hormones act up._ He had just woken up, and when he looked to see if Sakura was all right, he saw her and Naruto sleeping together. It was true that Sakura was the one that seemed to be making the advances on Naruto, since she seemed to be completely wrapped around Naruto, and Naruto simply snored as if nothing was going on.

"A few minutes," Naruto sighed, and he tried to turn over only to stay in place due to Sakura's grip on his body. He opened his eyes for a moment and glanced at Sakura before his eyes widened in recognition. "Sakura-chan? What the?" He looked around and then calmed down, "Oh yeah."

Sakura opened her eyes and looked around confused. Her mind was finally registering things at its normal rate, and she glanced at the boy she was currently holding in her grip, she looked very confused. "Naruto, why are you here?" She asked, after that moment, all of last night hit her like a ton of bricks, and she lowered her eyes, "oh yeah."

Naruto felt her forehead, "You feeling better now?" He asked.

Sakura blushed slightly and let go of him to climb out of the bed, "Not really." She answered, "I feel kind of nauseous still, but not nearly as much as last night."

"I'll help you around today."

"Thank you." She said as she lay back down as she began to feel dizzy sitting up for too long, "How long did this last for you Sasuke?"

"I wasn't feeling well for a few days after getting it last time."

"Urgh, I hate being sick." She moaned as she brought an arm up to her forehead and felt her temperature, "I think I'll be able to move around with you guys though, I m not that bad right now."

No one bothered to argue with her, knowing she would be very insistent, and that it would be easier to just allow her to come with them. Sasuke decided to speak up, "We didn't fare very well against Orochimaru."

"You think? Naruto replied angrily, "He kicked my ass while I was using Kyuubi; he nearly killed you, and gave Sakura-chan," He looked away from her, knowing it would probably be a very sore spot to talk with her for near the rest of her life.

She looked up, "If I need to," She looked at Naruto straight in the face, "I said last night that I wouldn't use it no matter what, but, if I have to…" She looked towards Sasuke, "I will use it to protect you two, instead of getting in the way like I did."

Naruto looked shocked and angered, "No! You can't, the more you use it, the more it can manipulate you to do things!"

"Naruto." Sakura sounded very serious, "If you're going to die and it's the only way, there's no way I am not going to use it."

"It feeds on negative emotions." Sasuke spoke up, "It amplifies them a lot. Even now you probably feel a lot more pessimistic than you had been before you got here. Just use it in serious emergencies, the more often you use it, the more corrupted you get from it, it changes your thoughts, actions, everything. Please, do not use it Sakura, it will never benefit you. I had to learn that the hard way..."

Sakura glared at him, but sighed when he glared back. She knew he was right, "Ok, I will only use it in life or death situations."

"With that out of the way," Naruto began, "I just want to apologize to you both for using Kyuubi during the fight. It was a mistake. I was just angry that he hurt you guys and Gaara during the fight."

"Naruto, if you have to, use it." Sasuke said. When both Sakura and Naruto looked at him in shock he added, "Not the full potential, but just enough to give you a small boost in ability. You know, no tails."

"What?" Naruto looked shocked, "You're telling me to use it now? NO!" He shook his head, "I'm never using Kyuubi again." He could almost say he heard an evil growl coming from within him. Naruto looked determined until his eyes widened and he said, "The old man, you guys know he screwed us over?" He said harshly.

Sasuke shook his head once more, "No, Naruto, he did what he had to do, he has a village to protect and run, he can't just go risking his life, that is what the ANBU was built for."

Sakura nodded along, "I have to agree. As much as I hate it, and as much as I can't stand to see Hokage-sama's face right now, we need him to help us too much for hating him to be any use right now."

The door suddenly creaked open before Naruto could protest, the person walked in and bowed. "Hokage-sama sent me. He has asked you three to stand by him while the preliminaries on the second exam begin, and stay to watch the show."

The trio looked at each other and nodded, "Tell him we'll change and be right with him," Naruto answered, another smiled visible on his face. _Old man, I may not trust you, but they're right, we need you now more than ever._

"Ok guys, I'm going home to change, I'll meet you all there." Sakura said and jumped out the hospital window, as if she weren't even sick that morning.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other, "Shall we go home?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded, and the two were on their way.

(Preliminary round building)

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all appeared in the building in front of the Hokage who was currently standing giving a speech to the children who managed to pass. The three looked behind them to see all the Genin giving them odd and questioning glances.

Naruto looked away from the man and simply walked up to his side, which his two friends did as soon as he did. Naruto and Sakura stood on his left, while Sasuke stood on his right.

The three wore their Chunin vest once more, each getting a new replacement for the ones lost in the forest. The only difference was that Naruto and Sasuke had some bandages going through their hair, and Sakura had on a higher collar shirt than Normal to hide her mark.

"Now," Sarutobi cleared his throat, "Is there anyone who wishes to drop out now?"

This gave Naruto the chance to see who was actually left. _Let's see, Team eight, ten, and Gai are all here once again! _He cheered a little in his mind, _now, who else… Gaara's team, the Sound team, and Kabuto's team, _He was surprised; it was the same teams minus them to have passed last time.

Kabuto raised his hand and grinned at Naruto and Sasuke. He still didn't know that Sakura had the Curse Mark and not them, "Hokage, I'd like to leave." His two teammates did the same as well, leaving only fifteen people to fight.

After a moment of silence everyone assumed the rest of the Genin were prepared to fight.

"Hayate, you may continue now." Sarutobi said and leaned back in his chair as the jounin he called jumped down from some place.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." He said and turned towards the children, "Now, you all are about to compete, because there are still too many of you here. However, there are fifteen of you, and that means that one of you don't have to fight, whoever is remaining when the board randomly picks all the fights will not have to battle today."

All the Genin nodded, most hoping that their name wouldn't appear on the board on the top left corner of the little arena they were located in.

"With that said, would you all please go up to the stands as we begin?"

Everyone began to walk up to the stands. Once up there, the board began to flash all the names of the people competing in the preliminary rounds, and it suddenly flashed, 'Aburame Shino vs. Abumi Zaku'.

Shino slowly walked down the steps, while Zaku jumped right over the railing. Sakura noticed that his arms were both fine, and nothing was in a sleeve. _That was because of Sasuke._ She felt uncomfortable suddenly and rubbed the spot on the back of her neck once more.

Hayate walked in the middle of the field and after a huge coughing fit said, "fight!"

Naruto huffed as he saw these two. He knew what the outcome would be, no point in watching it once more. He looked around the room and saw the Sound Jounin, and his eyes became silted and red. He looked away and shook his head; he couldn't make a scene here.

He looked back at the battle and saw Shino beginning to explain his techniques. _His bugs are really good! _He began to look annoyed as two minutes passed and the two were still looking at each other, _Zaku sucks, doesn't he know Shino is getting him into a trap the longer he sits there and does nothing but listen to Shino?_

He looked at all the other ANBU and Jounin standing around them, and noticed the same look of distaste. He avoided looking at the Hokage, for he still hadn't gotten over what he had done.

_Orochimaru is still stronger than us, even after three years of intense training, he could still kill us. _He closed his eyes and mouth to hold in his angry shout. He knew Sasuke and Sakura both were as equally pissed as he was, but they knew that going off at the Hokage wouldn't really be the best thing to do.

"You lose." Shino said as his bugs suddenly surrounded Zaku.

"NO!" Zaku brought both his hands up to both sides of him, and attempted to shoot out a blast at each, but Shino's bugs were in his shooting devices, and caused his hands explode off of him. "AHHHH!" He screamed, he now had no attacks.

Shino looked at him with no sympathy, "You will never be a good ninja now."

Zaku gave Shino one last glare before his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He was completely knocked out.

Hayate looked at the rather gruesome sight and hesitated a bit before calling out, "Aburame Shino is the winner!"

His team cheered for him, and so did the rest of the rookies who were in the exam, besides Shikamaru, who a little too lazy to do such a thing.

Once Zaku had been taken away, and Shino walked back up to the stands, the board began to pick random names once more. Everyone looked up until it read, 'Nara Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin'.

_Another of the same fights, what are the chances of that? _He knew how this fight would turn out, so he ignored a majority of it until the very end of it.

Shikamaru threw several kunai as did his opponent, for she was in his shadow Jutsu. Suddenly right when she was about to dodge them like Shikamaru, the wall got in her way, and the Kunai deflected off of her headband, knocking her out.

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru!" Hayate called out.

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, and gave him a questioning glance once more. _Why does he keep giving those looks to me? _Naruto wondered as he grinned and gave the boy a small wave. Shikamaru nodded at him and walked away. _He's onto something._

Everyone looked up to the board once more until it flashed, 'Kankuro vs. Yamanaka Ino'.

"HA!' Ino shouted, "This will be too easy!"

She walked down to the arena while Kankuro did as well. Both of them faced each other, each with their own cocky grin. After Hayate said fight, the two still stayed like that. Finally, after what seemed like several minutes Kankuro said, "Well, you're a pretty good looking girl, too bad I'm going to have to kick your ass."

Ino smirked, "I know I am." Then her face became serious, "You won't be able to beat me!" She brought her hands up to her family jutsu, to which Kankuro laughed at.

"Trust me, girl, that Jutsu won't do anything to me at all. Maybe you can just quit and we'll see what happens." He said.

"No one can resist this ability!" Ino called out, but still a little more hesitant to do it now. Ino suddenly shook her head, determination in her eyes once more, "You can't win against me!" She then shouted, "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Her head suddenly seem to fly back, and she slumped to the ground.

Everyone looked at Kankuro who seemed to be struggling for a moment, but suddenly began to break into many little pieces until there was a wooden puppet standing there. The bandages that were once wrapped around Kankuro's back suddenly unraveled and Kankuro stepped out of them.

"Ha, I told you that you couldn't do it to me." He walked over to her and put a Kunai to her throat, "I guess this means I win?"

Hayate coughed a little before saying, "Kankuro wins."

There was very little sound at his victory, but not many people really cared. The rookies were all bummed that their streak of Konoha Genin getting through was broken, and the sand siblings really weren't all that surprised.

Kankuro brought Ino back up to the Genin and then walked over to his own team.

Hayate looked up to the board along with everyone else to see who was going next. It then flashed 'Hyuuga Neji vs. Hyuuga Hinata'.

Hinata looked shocked and afraid as she glanced at Neji, who was currently glaring at her. "Hinata!" She turned around to see Kiba, "Hinata, we all know the situation with Neji. If you know you're going to lose, please give up. He will not hesitate to kill you."

"Yes Kiba-kun," Hinata glanced back at the floor, _Should I do this?_

Neji walked down to the floor, silently awaiting Hinata to get down and begin their fight. He glared at her, and called out, "Frightened, Hinata-sama?"

"N- No." She walked down and looked at her opponent. She glanced at Naruto who was besides the Hokage, and his mood dropped even more when he wasn't even paying much attention to her fight. He was looking off towards the sound Jounin near him. She then glanced up at the stands and saw Shikamaru, who when he noticed her looking at him, he gave her a thumbs up.

_I'll fight my best,_ She nodded towards Shikamaru and turned towards Neji, "S- shall we begin?"

Neji saw the look in her eyes, and began to speak, "Hinata, you're too weak. It's obvious that you can't beat me, I can see that-"

"Just get the stupid match going already!" Shikamaru shouted, cutting the boy off from his speech. Neji gave him an annoyed glare to which Shikamaru gave him a bored look.

_I see, _Sakura said watching the match, _Shikamaru did that so Neji wouldn't finish his speech and make Hinata too afraid to fight him. If I remember this fight though, I know Neji will try to kill Hinata if she keeps resisting. _She looked slightly worried.

Hayate looked at the two, and when he saw the determined look in both their eyes, he said, "Begin!"

Neji instantly activated his Byakugan and ran at Hinata, who took a little time to activate hers and defend from Neji's attack. She quickly dodged to the left in a fluid motion and struck her palm out, attempting to hit Neji in the chest.

Unfortunately, Neji was able to get out of the way and tried to strike her again, but she once more moved out of the way of his attack.

The fight went on like this for a little bit until Neji grabbed Hinata's hand and struck a few points on it before jumping back a meter. "Hinata-sama, I just made your right hand completely useless for this fight. You're proving to me that you're a worthless heir to the clan."

Hinata looked down with a pained expression on her face. _He's right, _She thought, she slowly raised her head and glanced once more at all her friends, Kiba was mouthing to her to quit the match, the rest gave her a worried glance, and Shikamaru glared at Neji before giving her another thumbs up, and mouthing good luck.

She looked at Neji, "Neji-kun, I will not lose to you." She slowly got up.

"Hinata-sama," Neji sighed. He looked at Sasuke and nodded, "I don't want to hurt you anymore." He nearly whispered, only Hinata could hear him.

Sasuke gave him a weird look, _Hm, I wonder if I taught that guy a lesson after all._ He smirked as he watched the two talk.

"Hinata-sama, I know uncle won't like it if you simply drop out, so I'll just knock you out without hurting you anymore." He walked forth, and then ran once Hinata raised her guard.

He and her fought for a little more before Neji grabbed her hand without disabling it, and spun around her until he had a clear shot to the pressure point on her neck and pressed it, knocking her out cold.

Hayate got a closer look before saying, "Winner, Hyuuga Neji!"

Lee watched as Neji helped Hinata get to the medical room and turned to his sensei and Tenten and asked, "I recall Neji hating his cousin? Why did he just knock her out and is helping her out right now?"

"Lee!" Gai said, "Neji has had a change of heart! He now realizes that all my teachings are right!"

Tenten glared at him for a little bit before saying, "No, he probably sees Sasuke as a role model for whom to be like. He knows Sasuke has gone through much worse than him, so he strives to put the past behind him and forgive his cousin, and forget about the whole stupid fate thing – I hope anyway."

"Tenten," Gai said.

"What?" She asked, a little annoyed.

Gai pointed to the board that flashed, 'Tenten vs. Kinata Dosu'.

"Ah!" She exclaimed, "It's finally my turn!" She waved at Gai before jumping down, extremely excited that she was going to be fighting now.

Dosu grinned and appeared down there as well. "Ha, I get to fight a silly girl." He said. A grin was on his face, "This will be too easy."

"What does that mean?' Tenten yelled, a vein popping out of her forehead, "I won't be a push-over!"

Dosu laughed, "Of course, but then again. You're a girl without a family name, so that means you're going to be easy for you don't have any special jutsu's." He could see he had hit a sore point of Tenten's when she gave him a glare that could rival the most evil person in the universe.

"Hey!" Sasuke shouted, startling all those around him, "Your threats are horrible, and to pick out such simple things proves to us all in this room that you're a worthless piece of trash." Dosu gave him a glare of his own, obviously pissed that this boy was defending the girl.

"What is she to you? Why are you even defending her? You do realize this is the exams, and you can't distract us from the fight at all!" He looked rather pissed.

Sasuke laughed, "She's a really close person to me," He glared at him, turning his Sharingan on for added effect, "And if you dare say anything like that again, I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Whatever," Dosu looked away from Sasuke, who had deactivated his Sharingan. "Look, girl, I'm going full power now!" He charged her and tried to hit her, but she jumped far away and did some seals, "Here we go." She raised her hand to her mouth and said, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"

Though the multiple flames weren't as big as Sasuke's, they did their job as Dosu avoided them, and got hit by a single one, causing a lot of damage. Tenten coughed out a little smoke and then grabbed two scrolls and unsealed all the weapons she had in them and began to throw them one after another at the guy. He managed to dodge several, but there was always a stray one that would manage to hit him.

When she finished with those two scrolls, hundreds of Kunai, Shuriken, and other throwing weapons were scattered across the floor, and many of them were sticking out of Dosu, who looked to be in bad condition.

"You bitch," He breathed heavily, "You're my weakness, I can't beat a long ranged fighter when I need to be in close range in order to use my technique." He breathed in once more and attempted a few steps before falling down into unconsciousness.

Hayate looked at the two children who finished their fight within maybe two minutes and sighed, "You know, I didn't even say to start the fight yet," He coughed and said, "Anyways, the winner is Tenten!"

She cheered, and turned towards Sasuke and blew him a kiss, to which he smiled at her. His mood was considerably better after that fight.

Tenten went up while the medics all grabbed Dosu and left. All the Kunai on the ground were gathered, and would be given back to their rightful owner after the whole preliminary rounds were over.

The board began to mix names until it came to, "Gaara vs. Rock Lee'.

"YES!" Lee shouted, "I knew I would be second to last to go and fight!"

"My dear student!" Gai shouted and looked down at Lee, "Please, make me proud and beat this child. There is something you must know about him though," He closed in on Lee and said, "That gourd, it looks very suspicious!"

Lee looked shocked as he wrote down what Gai just said in his notepad.

"Lee! Don't bother writing it down, you must remember that you will not have time to look through that as you fight!" Gai exclaimed and patted him on the back, "It looks like your opponent is eager to fight as well! Now go down there and WIN!" He shouted.

Lee jumped down and said, "I am pleased that I will get to fight you. You seem very strong, and will aid me in my quest to fight Neji and Uzumaki."

"Begin!" Hayate shouted, making sure to actually say it before the two Genin actually began to fight.

Gaara completely ignored him and slowly had his sand gather around him. He then looked up at Lee and made his sand begin to go towards Lee at a crawl. Lee easily jumped away from the sand and began to run towards Gaara. He threw out his hand, and was shocked when he found that a wall of sand got in his way.

"Sand?" He muttered before he attempted to kick, and then punch again. All of his attacks were useless against Gaara's wall of sand however.

"Mother wants to play," Gaara smirked as he controlled his sand to quickly grab lee by his ankle and began to swing him around the arena. He slammed the boy hard against the wall, making him cough up some blood.

Lee then flipped away, and onto a ledge far from Gaara. _I can't win against him in my current state, _He looked on to see if he could formulate any strategies to beat him when he suddenly heard his sensei speak up.

"Lee! Take off your weights!" He shouted.

"But Gai-sensei! You told me to do it only if I need to protect someone!" Lee said back.

Gai smiled and did his Good-guy pose, "Lee! I said it's ok to do it!"

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee saluted him then sat down to take off his leg warmers and then took off the weights. Everyone thought they were not too much, besides Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, but they suddenly fell to the floor with a huge explosion following.

Lee then dashed off to Gaara and broke right through his wall of sand with one punch. Gaara's face betrayed him as his eyes widened, and he looked around for the source of damage.

Lee suddenly appeared under him and kicked him way up into the air, and then proceeded to kick him further up. When he reached the climax of his attack, he wrapped his bandages around Gaara, and spun him back down to the ground, hopefully finishing him.

As the dust cleared, Lee was shocked to see Gaara getting up after such an attack, "What? No one can withstand that attack!"

"Mother, she wants your blood now." Gaara gave him a huge glare and began to beat Lee, who was too exhausted to do much against the onslaught.

"Lee! Open the gates!" Gai yelled down to the boy.

Lee nodded, and focused on opening the gates within his body. Gaara decided to watch instead of attacking right away, just to see the attack. It didn't take long before Lee zoomed across the floor, and began to beat Gaara away, destroying his defense like it didn't even exist. Soon he began to kick him up again, ready to execute his Lotus attack.

Naruto's eyes widened as he glanced at Gai and saw him clasp his hands together in pray, and he quickly turned to Lee and saw him stop momentarily in pain. _So that's when he switched places, _He thought when Lee did his signature move and the room exploded.

Most of the Genin were shocked to see how powerful Lee was, and most of the people in the room didn't notice Gaara switching places so quickly.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who nodded. Gaara was about to hurt Lee pretty badly, and they were going to stop it before it happened this time.

Lee was completely exhausted, and the sand had saved Gaara's life. Gaara raised his hand, and the sand went towards Lee. It wrapped around Lee's hand and foot, and right when he was about to crush them, and right before Naruto and Sasuke jumped out, Sakura called out, "Gaara! That's enough!"

"What," Gaara looked towards her, "You're that one." He still held his hand up. "You saved me." He muttered. He seemed to be in deep thought. "Mother, what do I do." He then slowly relaxed his hand and dropped it back down, "I win." He simply said.

Hayate went over to Lee and checked his condition, "Gaara wins! Lee is in no condition to fight right now!"

Gaara got up after a little bit and walked towards Sakura. The Hokage watched the scene with interest, as did the other Jounin around them. "Sakura," Gaara muttered, "I have given you a favor. Mother doesn't like," He grinned evilly, "Sparing people, but you and they," He pointed to Sasuke and Naruto, "Will be good for Mother." He then went away in a tornado of sand back up to where he was with his team and sensei.

"That was odd," Sarutobi whispered to Sakura, "What did you do for him?"

Sakura shrugged, "Nothing important now."

They all looked up at the board for the last fight. It flashed three names continuously until it said, 'Akimichi Choji vs. Temari'.

"YES!" Kiba cheered, he grabbed Akamaru and spun around in a circle with his dog, "We're going to the finals by default!"

Temari jumped down and Choji simply stared, "Ah man, I don't want to fight her. She's scary looking."

Asuma breathed in some of his cigarette and sighed, "Choji, you do this fight, and I'll take you to your favorite place to eat." He knew that it would work easily.

"YES!" Choji jumped down and faced Temari. "Let's get this over with quickly so I can go out to eat!" He said all his chakra pulsing out so Temari could feel it.

"You're just fighting to go eat?" She asked, "You're such a fat ass."

Choji looked up, an evil glint in his eyes, "What was that!"

"You heard me fat boy!" She said taunting him some more.

Choji screamed and did his jutsu, "Nikudan Sensha!" He shouted and became a huge human boulder. He rolled straight at Temari who simply opened up her fan and swung it, the amount of wind made Choji go flying against the wall, easily destroying it.

Temari walked over, making sure to have a grip on her fan still.

Hayate sighed and walked over to see if Choji was still ready to fight. He checked out the wall and sighed, "Choji is knocked out," He looked towards Temari, "Temari wins!"

Hayate coughed then looked around the room, "That concludes the preliminary part of the second exam! Now the Hokage would like to speak to you, so please all of you that passed come down here now!" The passing students all agreed and went down to stand in front of the Hokage.

"Genin," Sarutobi said, "You have all passed, and will be entering the third exam. Fortunately, it will be held in a month's time." Some complaining occurred, but he held his hand up for silence, which worked, "You will use this time to recover from the exam today, and to train your abilities to the max. It will be a tournament between you eight, even if you fail a fight, you will be considered to become a Chunin."

After a small period of time for them to let the information to sink in he spoke up once more, "Now, go leave and begin your training for the exam."

Everyone bowed down to show their respect and left the room.

"Would you three like to come back to the Tower?" Sarutobi asked the trio surrounding him.

Sasuke nodded, "Why not, we need to plan for things anyway."

"So we do," Sarutobi sighed, knowing that these children weren't going to be going easy on him.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Grammar fixes.

-In the original version Sasuke introduced himself as an ANBU to Tenten, not so in this one. Also made it so Anko doesn't know that they are ANBU from the future, but I thought Ibiki knowing would be smart, considering he'd never let information like that get away, so I kept him knowing it in.

-Rewrote practically the entire fight scene with Orochimaru. Made Kakashi come to help during the fight, made Orochimaru summon a bunch of large snakes instead of Manda, and made ANBU come and chase off Orochimaru.

-Rewrote the hospital scene to make it more bleak instead of the previous hopeful outlook it had.

This was an annoying chapter to rewrite. The hardest one by far, taking me almost a day to get it all revised. By this point in the old story, we had a Sasuke who was really working for Orochimaru the whole time but turned good, The three children had exposed themselves as ANBU to everyone, and Sarutobi didn't help them because he didn't fully trust them yet. I think you all can see why I removed the first two, and altered the last of those things; I think it makes the story much better.


	12. An Unfortunate Aftermath

REWRITTEN

(Hokage Tower)

Sarutobi sat behind his desk, with a pipe in his mouth as he looked at the three children in front of him. None of them were like how he remembered. Naruto was not even looking at him, and did all he could to avoid eye contact with the man. Sakura had an almost lost look in her eyes, as she seem to look right through him. Sasuke was simply looking at the old man, with no emotion at all. He only blinked once every ten seconds or so.

After this silence had gone on for near five minutes he spoke, "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. I'd like to formally apologize to you three," He looked away for a moment, a glazed look in his eyes, "My foolishness is the reason we're going to be invaded soon."

Sakura snapped out of her trance like state and nodded at the man, Naruto and Sasuke continued to do what they were before.

""Old man," Naruto looked at him, dislike filling his eyes, "You don't have my sympathy. Orochimaru is a S-ranked ninja, and we gave you all the instructions on how to kill that bastard in that forest! If you would have come, one of our village's biggest threats would be dead!" He slammed his fists on the table, "but no! You had to go on about this village!"

Sakura was about to grab his shoulder, but Sasuke held her back.

"My teammates forgave you already! I don't understand, but I doubt I want to understand!" He began to shout, "Old man, I don't forgive you, and I don't think I ever CAN forgive you! You've endangered this village, and you want to know the casualties that will result from that!" He spat on the ground, "I hope you're willing to give up your life again to try and kill that bastard!"

Naruto was about to leave, but then he turned back around, "But wait! You know what? He's so much stronger now that he has come back from the future! He could easily take on Sasuke and I, we're ANBU now, and in the previous timeline we were Genin in there. I remember, that was when Sasuke got the mark,"

Naruto began to emit a red aura around him, "But no! Not here, Sasuke doesn't have the stupid mark now! No, it's Sakura-chan now. You think that's better?" He punched the wall he had wandered over to while he was pacing the room getting the anger out of his system, "Of course it's not! It's the same mark, on a different person! It changed Sasuke, so why can't it change Sakura!"

Naruto stomped around the room in his anger. He was about to go off on the Hokage again when suddenly a poof of smoke appeared, "Naruto, stop this at once!"

"How about you stop defending him? You were there with us risking your life to save us, he should have come right away" Sasuke said, glaring at Kakashi.

"Sasuke," Kakashi sighed, "Listen, he had a very good-"

Sasuke glared at him, his Sharingan eyes activated, "He has NO reasons to betray us and let that bastard go away." He sighed he put his head in his palm, "Look, I don't want to repeat Naruto again, but we may have forgiven you, Hokage, we're not going to trust you anymore, all your requests you need from us, we'll look into it, no guarantee that we'll do it." He then looked at Sarutobi, "Naruto's right though, I hope you are prepared to die."

"Sasuke!" Kakashi yelled, "We can save him with your help!"

Sasuke glared at him, "Save him? Last time he died trying to kill Orochimaru, who was far weaker than how he is now. This time there is no chance he can survive against him." He then did a seal and disappeared away from the place.

Sarutobi looked up from his silent mourning to see Naruto in front of him glaring at him, and Sakura still standing in her original position. She didn't even seem to try and stop Naruto like she did before.

"Naruto, even if you don't forgive me, I'm sorry." He said.

Naruto stopped his struggling and sighed, getting angry was getting him absolutely nowhere. "You're very lucky that we need your power to make this work," He muttered, looking away from the Hokage once more.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, "We get your point! If you're so unintelligent enough to realize that we NEED his trust to work with him, then you can go leave this village for all I care!" She put her hand over her mouth and looked shocked after she had said that.

Naruto was looking down for a bit, until he raced at Sakura and slammed her against the wall, his hand had her throat around it, "**Listen, Sakura,**" He said in a deep demonic voice, "**This village will not fall. I have sworn to protect it no matter what!**" He dropped her to the ground.

"If you 'love' this village so much, Naruto," She glared at him, the distant power in her telling her to go on, "Then prove it instead of acting like a baby." She got up and into his face, "Hokage-sama did what he had to do to, and-"

Naruto glared straight back at her, "Did what he had to do?" He cried, "There's a time when doing what you have to do is not as effective as doing what has to be done!"

Sakura looked away and said, "He has his reasons."

She didn't expect to be slammed back into the wall by an angered Naruto, who yelled out, "**How can you say that! He's going to kill the whole village!**"

Sakura punched him right off her, and coughed up a small bit of blood, Naruto had been very forceful with that last move he had done, "Do you think hurting me is going to make me go to your side!" She was about to run at him, but she then noticed how much closer the power of the Curse Mark was to her, she instantly stopped her maneuver.

"Sakura," Naruto muttered, realizing what he had just done. He saw the bit of blood drip from her mouth and onto the floor.

She refused to look at him and did the same seal as Sasuke to disappear out of the room.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, suddenly feeling very lonely. He sighed and didn't even look at the two adults in the room before he slowly made a seal and disappeared from the room as well.

Kakashi watched the whole act and sighed, "That didn't go well. Naruto is allowing his emotions to get in the way of what needs to be done. It seems only Sakura is still willing to help you."

Sarutobi didn't even acknowledge what Kakashi said, and only sighed once more, his hand holding his head up.

(Downtown Konoha)

Sasuke wandered the streets of Konoha, wearing his Chunin vest; he could really care less about what people thought about him. He could hear people admiring how he looked, but that didn't matter to him, he forcefully pushed anyone who dare get in his way to the side and continued to walk through the town, his mind still brooding what had just occurred within the last five days.

_I didn't want this to happen, _He sighed; _we all didn't! Why, Hokage._

Suddenly two hands covered his eyes, and someone said, "Guess who!"

"Not now Ten-chan," Sasuke muttered pushing her hands away from his eyes, "I am not in the mood to be around you right now."

Tenten gave him a confused look, "You don't want to be around me? What's wrong?" She asked, catching back up to him. "I can tell you're fussing over something, and if you talk about it, maybe you'll feel better? We can go to my place you know." She offered.

"No." He said, continuing his march, "I doubt talking to you will help."

She looked really confused now, "Well," She hesitated, "Do you want to go spar with each other? I need to train for the finals you know!"

Sasuke finally turned around, he was holding his anger within himself, and through gritted teeth he said, "Tenten, I don't wish to be around you right now," He held her shoulders firmly and softened his grip and said, "I've just," He sighed, "Had a bad past few days."

Tenten dragged him into a nearby store and sat him down. "Well, we'll eat here and you can tell me about it!" She said, a grin appeared on her face.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here without Naruto or Sakura?" Teuchi walked up from behind his stand, "I figured of all people, Naruto would definitely be here."

Sasuke looked downwards, "Naruto is busy speaking to Hokage-sama about things."

Teuchi looked at him awkwardly before saying, "Alright, so, what do you want to eat? The usual?"

_It's so ironic that the place she drags me into is Ichiraku's. _He sighed, "No. I think I'll be leaving now. Thanks Tenten, but really, I want to go." He got off his stool and was about to leave, but Tenten grabbed his hand, preventing him from getting out.

"What's bothering you? You're acting like Neji now!" Tenten shouted, Sasuke's actions right now were obviously annoying her.

"Tenten." He glared at her, but dropped it immediately, "Ten-chan," he sighed. He walked up to the stool and was thinking of the best way to explain things to her. "You know now that I have been working with Kakashi for so long," She nodded, "Well, I was assigned a mission by Hokage-sama. This mission was really important, and if not completed could have very bad consequences. Well, we failed it badly, and it ends up that Hokage-sama could have helped us out."

Tenten looked shocked, "I don't think Hokage-sama would really do something like that."

"Heh, I agree with you kid." Teuchi said, listening to the two.

"He gave us so many excuses, but in the end I think that it was his fault. My team, all feels betrayed by the guy. We looked up to him, and when we need him the most, to help us out, he doesn't show up." He knew he was leaving a lot of details out, but this was the best way he could explain it.

Teuchi nodded, "I'm guessing Naruto is really mad about it?"

Sasuke nodded, "Obviously. He was probably the worst affected by this act, than the rest of us. To Naruto, if you break a bond with him, he'll get extremely angry about it." _Just like how he acted when I tried to hurt him on the hospital roof so long ago_, "He'll come around soon, I hope."

"Sounds like the Naruto I know." Teuchi said and gave the two children in front of him some bowls of ramen, "Here you kids go, it's on the house." He walked away, allowing the two to be alone.

Tenten picked up her chopsticks and sighed, "I think he'll make it up to you guys. It's not like him to do that to people."

Sasuke slammed his hand down on the counter and near shouting told her, "You don't know him Tenten! Why are you saying this? He better make it up to us, because he has lost all my respect of this! He's lucky he needs us so badly for the-" He quickly shut his mouth and shook his head, "he's lucky we're going to still help out with village affairs."

"For the what?" She asked, slightly confused, and kind of intimidated by his attitude.

Sasuke shook his head, "Tenten, it's another subject that you won't need to learn ever. Let's just eat."

Tenten gave him a curious look before turning to her noodles and eating them at a moderate pace. Sasuke only spun the noodles in his bowl around a little bit, thinking about the events that have passed, and are certain to pass in the future.

(Konoha rooftops)

Naruto sat on top of the Uchiha house he and Sasuke lived in, thinking over what he did to Sakura, and what he said to the old man. He meant it all, and yet, he felt bad that he had acted like that. _Damn it! He deserved it! _He looked up at the sky, and noticed black clouds were gathering around the village. _Ha, fits my mood. _It was around five in the afternoon, and the rain clouds had been coming in for a little while now.

_What should I do? I need guidance, but after what I did to Sakura-chan, she won't help me, and Kakashi and the Old man probably won't be willing to assist me either. _He rubbed his hands through his hair, trying to figure out the right thing to do, _I need Shikamaru! He was always the one to help me get my thoughts laid out, but we're in a new timeline. He doesn't know about it all._

"Should I Tell Shikamaru?" He glanced around, getting no answer but the winds picking up, "He has been getting suspicious of us, and knowing him, he will probably figure it out soon on his own, but is it smart to tell him?"

He just sat there continuing to think it over.

He finally got up, "I need someone to talk to, or I'm going to explode." He decided and jumped up, _Shikamaru, where are you right now, _He began to jump from roof to roof, _I remember he always looked at the sky from a rooftop; I spoke with him there at times, where was that?_

He stopped onto of someone's house and sat down to focus. _I wish Sakura-chan were here, she's so much better at this._ He then focused and felt all the thousands of chakras within the village of Konoha. He had been near Shikamaru and could identify what his chakra felt like, but finding it out of everyone else's would be difficult.

He tried to remember every detail of his signature, and after doing so for about five minutes, he felt a hint of his chakra, and having no other lead, he followed that. After trying not to get side tracked, eventually he managed to track where he was. He finally broke his concentration and focus and stood up and looked in the direction Shikamaru was.

"You're not on a rooftop? Amazing." He muttered, jumping off to where Shikamaru was located.

He dashed through the streets so quickly that he was but a black blur with the color of yellow on top of it all. Naruto made a final jump and appeared in the training grounds. He looked around and saw many Genin training themselves for the next exam, and he looked around for the one he was looking for.

He wandered around for a bit before spotting Shikamaru with Choji. He ran over to the two and called out, "Hey! Shikamaru!" both Shikamaru and Choji looked up, "Hey, I expected you to be looking at the sky instead of, well, training." He trailed off.

Shikamaru had multiple bruises on his figure, and he was panting heavily. Choji was on the ground breathing heavily as well, however, after each breath he popped a chip into his mouth and chewed it within a millisecond before doing the cycle over again.

"Naruto," Shikamaru muttered, "What brings you here?"

Naruto shook his head and went over and sat next to him, "Listen, I need to tell you something important."

Shikamaru gave him a weird look and glanced at Choji, "Well, can Choji listen to it as well? I usually don't keep many secrets from him."

"I don't know," Naruto muttered, "Looking at the boy, "If I tell you both, you have got to promise me that you will never tell anyone else in the village." He said. He looked around the area, seeing all the Genin and said, "We need to go somewhere where no one can hear us."

Choji gave Naruto a confused look, "Is it that important?"

"Yes. Very, important." Naruto said, giving them both serious looks, "It could possibly change your lives."

Shikamaru gave him a weary look and sighed, "I'm not really in the mood for life changing moments right now if you can't see, I'm already training, amazingly, and that's enough of an accomplishment for me for today." He got up and dusted off his pants, "Now, Choji and I will be leaving."

Naruto looked desperate, "No!" he got in front of Shikamaru and began to beg, "This is serious, I need your help so badly right now!"

"Oh," Shikamaru said. He looked at Naruto's desperate face before sighing again and saying, "Fine, fine. Take me to wherever you plan on telling me this stuff."

He grabbed both Choji's and Shikamaru's hands, and began to run towards the village, "I know the perfect place, I'll take you to my place." He continued to run until he reached the gate of the Uchiha district.

"This place?" Choji said, "I have heard that-"

"You can hear the night of the massacre?" Naruto sighed, "Not true, I've slept in this place long enough to say that is false." He pushed open the gate and led the two through the district until he got to the house he and Sasuke lived in.

"Nice place." Shikamaru complimented.

Naruto allowed himself to smile for the first time since he got done seeing the Hokage, "Thanks."

After a little bit, the trio walked into a large room. In the middle it had a couch, with a table in front of it, and a chair was on the opposite side of the couch. This was the same room Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura went into to sleep three years ago, when they first got into this timeline.

Choji and Shikamaru both sat on the couch, while Naruto went to the chair.

After that a short silence came over the room, until Shikamaru said, "Ok. We're in here; care to tell us what you wanted to say?"

"Right," Naruto said, obviously nervous, "Don't be afraid about what I am going to say, it may scare you for a little bit at first, but then you'll realize that I am here to help and you guys are in no harm," He took a deep breath and said, "To make a long story short, I come from the future."

Another silence came upon the room. Shikamaru gave Naruto the same bored look and got up, "ok, I'm out of here." Choji got up to follow giving Naruto a glare.

"No!" Naruto shouted, "I'm serious, and I can prove it!"

Shikamaru crossed his arms and turned towards Naruto, "Ok then, prove it."

"An invasion of Konoha is going to happen. The invading forces are from the Sand and Sound villages! Shikamaru, if all goes well, you're going to be the only Genin to become a Chunin this exam! The kid Gaara is really a demon, and it's going to be up to me, Sasuke and Sakura to stop him and-"

"Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted, "You're giving me information, but you've no evidence to back it up." He sighed, "Don't you have real proof, like you know, a secret that only I know that I told you in the future or something?"

Naruto thought for a moment before saying, "Nothing's coming to mind."

Shikamaru walked over and sat back down on the couch, Choji followed him shortly after, "Ok, Naruto. Suppose what you're saying is true, and that's the reason you were picked by Kakashi so early on and happen to be Chunin now, tell me, why are you telling me all this information?"

"In the future," Naruto began, "You always helped me sort out my thoughts when I was really stressed, and even though you always thought that it was troublesome, you'd always do it because we were really good friends and we always backed each other up."

"Really?" Shikamaru sighed, "I know we were friends in the academy, but that was some time ago Naruto," He said, "I don't know if you're telling the truth," He looked up at the ceiling, "I don't want to believe what you just told me either, but tell me what's on your mind and I'll help you the best I can."

Naruto nodded, "You're the best Shikamaru!" He then turned serious and said, "Remember, everything said in here will not leave here, got it?"

Choji and Shikamaru nodded, "I hope you're just kidding," Choji sighed, "I don't really feel like having our village get invaded."

"Well," Naruto said, ignoring Choji's comment, "When we first came to this timeline, we immediately went to the Old man, eh, the Hokage, I mean. Anyways, we proved to him that we were from the future by doing some moves that were exclusive to two individuals in the world, and we were in the beginning stages of doing them," Naruto sighed, "Enough about that though, he agreed to help us through this timeline, and assigned Kakashi to train us all."

Shikamaru raised his hand, stopping Naruto from continuing, "Naruto, it was you and who else coming back from the future?"

"Oh. It was me, Sasuke," He looked down, "And Sakura-chan."

"That would explain why you three suddenly became so close." Shikamaru commented, nodding.

"Exactly," Naruto confirmed, "Anyway, we did various missions, and we were going at the really good speed. After one year, Kakashi gave us a test to see if we were prepared to become full-fledged ANBU agents. Of course, we easily passed." Naruto boasted, almost forgetting about his previous mood, "But, when the exams came up," He looked back down, "It was going well at first, we all were really strong, and could beat almost anyone together, but one thing was able to beat us."

Choji with a mouth full of chips asked, "Who's that?"

"Orochimaru," Naruto muttered, his hands covering his face, so his voice came out a little muffled, "He apparently came back from the future as well, and it's one of the reasons he beat us so badly." Naruto felt like crying, "We were supposed to go in, and hold him off until help arrived."

Shikamaru cringed, "I can see where this is going."

"It's worse than you think!" Naruto nearly shouted, "Orochimaru was about to give us the Curse Mark." Seeing the confusion on their faces he elaborated, "It's a mark that Orochimaru gives you on your neck, and it forms a small irremovable seal, it grants a lot of power, but it plays with your negative emotions, making small anger become large anger and things like that." Naruto sighed, "He was about to give it to Sasuke and I, but then Sakura came in and got Sasuke away from it, and in order to get it away from me, she had to get in front of me-"

"She got the mark." Shikamaru concluded.

Naruto nodded, "Yes." He said as if it was a venomous word, "She got it."

"Where was the help during all of this?" Choji asked confusion on his face still.

"It never arrived until too late!" Naruto said, "Both Sasuke and Sakura were knocked out cold when they finally came!" His eyes turned red temporarily and he yelled, "They came and chase off Orochimaru who managed to escape, and I was struggling to stay awake!" He slammed his fist on the table, making a large crack go across the table towards Shikamaru and Choji.

Shikamaru looked confused, "Why?" He asked the simple question, "They must have known that Orochimaru was a huge threat. I can see if they don't trust you, but even then," Shikamaru shook his head, "That doesn't make sense, why would Hokage-sama make a move like that?"

"Please." Naruto said, calming down, "If you figure that out, let me know the answer too." Naruto took a deep breath before saying, "After all that, it was five days when we finally woke up I believe, and we went to see you guys do your preliminary rounds. After that the Hokage invited us to his office to talk over things."

"I assume the reason you're here in because that meeting you had with him didn't go too well?" Shikamaru asked, a knowing look on his face.

Naruto nodded, not startled at all on how Shikamaru caught on so fast, "Of course. During it all I was," He looked away, "I was still pissed of what happened and began to call the old man out saying I'll never forgive him and other things," He rubbed his face, "And worse of all, I hurt Sakura-chan because she was trying to defend the Hokage."

Choji whistled, "That's some story."

"I agree." Muttered Shikamaru, "Well, Naruto. What you did wrong there was that you should have tried to work something out with the Hokage, you know, try to find Orochimaru and work with the Hokage to kill him, and about hurting Sakura… if what you said about the mark is true, I'm sure she must be very sad, and if I'm not mistaken, sadness is considered a negative emotion, right?" Naruto looked even worse when he realized Shikamaru was right, "However, I know Sakura is smart, and if she has the same knowledge of it as you, I'm sure she knows that her sadness will fuel the seal, so she is probably trying her best to act completely emotionless."

Naruto shook his head, "Should I go find her and apologize?"

"If you can find her." He said, "While that is certainly something to think about, you mentioned an invasion coming soon?"

"Yes," Naruto sighed, "During the final part of the exam, it will begin." He looked down, "It's when the Old man will die trying to protect the village. The village won't fall however, but our economy and other very important things will go way down, and we have to continue to accept the same amount of missions, even though our numbers are reduced so far. It's an unstable mess for about four years after that."

Shikamaru nodded, "We have to prevent that."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Choji commented.

"We do need to prepare for the invasion." Naruto said standing, "You guys go train as much as you can, and don't worry, most of the fighting will be handled by the Jounin, you guys just stay low and kill those that are weakened."

He noticed Shikamaru and Choji shifting uncomfortably when he said to kill them, "Right." They both answered.

"So," Naruto said, "Do you guys believe me now?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "You just told us one of the most far-fetched stories I have ever heard in my life. You claim to be a kid from the future, an ANBU now, and you're apparently on equal footing with almost every ninja in the village." He sighed, "I don't like taking chances, and if what you said is true and I don't train, I can't really be of use to this village."

"Ok," Naruto shook his head, "Shikamaru, thanks for listening to me." He gave the boy a hug, who reluctantly returned it. When Naruto released the boy he looked around as if thinking and said, "I need to find two people: Sakura and Jiraiya."

"Jiraiya? One of the Sanin?" Shikamaru said, "Wow. I'm not even going to bother asking how you know him." He turned around and waved at Naruto, "Stay safe Naruto. I'll do all I can to prepare for what's to come." Choji walked out after Shikamaru.

"REMEMBER!" Naruto shouted as loud as he could, "Don't tell anyone else!"

He heard an annoyed, 'yeah' from the distance.

(Downtown Konoha)

Naruto landed on the street in the middle of the village, he knew people were tossing him some glares, but he could really care less about that at the moment. He had two objectives in his mind, the first one was to find Sakura and apologize to her so her emotions wouldn't mess with the seal, the second one would be to find Jiraiya and get him to be his apprentice once again.

He wandered around for a bit before he eventually sighed, he was going to have to find her the way he found Shikamaru, the horrible meditating way.

_I need to find a safe place to do it. _He thought as he saw all the villagers continue to glare at him, _I can't trust these people. It's ironic, I'm trying to save them and they want me dead. _He shook his head of the useless thoughts.

He jumped on top of a building and sat cross-legged. He then began to focus. Like before he could feel all of the people's chakra around him, and began to pick through them to find the girl he loved.

After several minutes and no results he cursed without breaking his concentration, and began to try and remember what her chakra felt like, he hung around her enough to know the specific details of her chakra signature. The only way she could hide from him this long was if she was purposely hiding her signature so she couldn't be found.

He opened his eyes and got up. "Why do you have to hide Sakura-chan," He muttered and jumped off the building and back down to the streets.

He was only a short distance from his favorite stand in the whole city, Ichiraku. He walked in and was surprised to see Sasuke and Tenten in there.

"Hey guys." He greeted and sat down next to Sasuke.

"Hey Naruto!" Tenten greeted him enthusiastically, "Did you see me kick my opponent's ass in the preliminary?" She had a huge smile on her face.

Not wanting to ruin it, Naruto put up a fake smile and said, "Yeah, you ruled Tenten."

"So Naruto," Sasuke said, "What brings you here?"

Teuchi was in the back not knowing Naruto arrived yet. Deciding not to be rude, Naruto called out, "Hey, Old man, how're you doing?"

"Naruto?" Teuchi walked out from the back and smiled as he saw his number one customer, and his number two customer sat right next to him, "I'm fine! What can I do for you?"

"I actually need to talk to Sasuke alone for a bit, Old man, I'll be right back." He got up and grabbed Sasuke's arm, and when Tenten got up to go with them he said, "Ah, Tenten, in private, only Sasuke can know, sorry!"

She rolled her eyes and went back onto her stool and began to talk to Teuchi.

Naruto pulled Sasuke out of the stand and into the nearby alley and looked both ways before saying, "I need your help."

"With what?" Sasuke was actually kind of afraid to see Naruto in such a panicked state, Naruto's previous act had even fooled him, he was so good at acting that it was near impossible to tell if he was lying or not.

"Sakura-chan." He whispered, "When you left we got into a small fight over something," He was about to say 'something stupid', but it was actually something pretty important, "Anyway," He said getting out of his daze, "She ran off after I kind of hurt her."

Sasuke slammed Naruto into the wall, kind of like how he did to Sakura, "You idiot!" He yelled, then realizing that Tenten might of heard he lowered his voice, "You do realize-"

"I know!" Naruto said, getting Sasuke off of him, "I talked to Shikamaru about it!"

"WHAT!" Sasuke shouted once again, "You told him?"

Tenten came around from the corner and asked, "Are you two ok?"

Both of them smiled at her, even though it was obvious that they weren't really in that mood and said, "Yes Tenten! Sorry if we're making too much noise!"

Sasuke kept his smile up until she went right back around the corner, and then he went right back into Naruto's face and whispered, "Tell me, did you tell him?"

"I had to!" Naruto said forcefully, "I needed guidance, and he was always the one to help me out when I-"

"Naruto…" Sasuke sighed; he let go of him and leaned against the wall next to him, "Remember when I said that we're in a different timeline?" Naruto nodded, "Well, maybe he didn't have to be the one to guide you now."

Naruto looked at him, "Then who could I turn to? I tried to find Sakura, but she is hiding herself from me and probably everyone else too, I kind of destroyed my ties with the Hokage, and everyone else is too young to help me – besides Shikamaru, he's so smart that he could do anything."

"How much did you tell him?" Sasuke asked, fearing the answer.

"I told him about all we did when we got here, and what just happened, and about the invasion soon, that's all, I swear." He said, then added, "I gave him a very vague description though, he doesn't really know that much."

Sasuke sighed, "What did he tell you?"

"That I need to find Sakura-chan and apologize to her so she doesn't have the Curse Mark influencing her decisions, and go find Jiraiya so we can prepare for the soon to come attack." Naruto looked incredibly worried.

"So we need to find Sakura," He sighed, "Any idea where she could be?"

Before any more could be said, a figure quickly jumped in front of them. "Who are you two?" The person was Tenten, "I heard all you said, about when you got here, an attack, and Sakura? What is going on?" She looked hurt and confused at Sasuke.

"Ten-chan." Sasuke whispered, "It's nothing that you need to-"

"I'm a ninja of this village, and if you're a security risk, I have all the rights I need to eliminate you both from this place." She held her Kunai up at Sasuke and then turned it to Naruto every two seconds or so.

Sasuke was at a loss of what to do, here was his girlfriend pointing a weapon at him, if it was any other person he would simply destroy them to an inch of their life and let them run off. Since this was Tenten though, he had to use some other tactic. "You were listening to us." Sasuke said, getting the obvious out of the way.

"Yes." She said, making sure not to show any weakness.

Naruto sighed and said, "Look, Tenten, we're not against the village, we're here to help. The village needs us as much as we need it." Tenten only gave him a confused look.

"Ten-chan," Sasuke said stepping forward, reaching his hand out to lower her Kunai, "I don't know if I can trust you to keep this information secret."

Naruto looked at Sasuke with his eyes wide. That was the worst possible thing he could have said in this situation. _You moron! _Naruto mentally yelled at his friend.

She shook his head away from the lowered Kunai and raised it up once again, a glare on her face, "You're saying you can't trust me? I thought you actually meant it when you said I was a special person to you!" Her happy mood from earlier was now completely replaced.

"Ten-chan-" Sasuke began.

"Don't call me that!" She shouted.

Sasuke lowered his head, "Tenten," He whispered, "If I do tell you you must promise me something." He looked up, straight into her eyes, "You cannot, under any circumstances tell anyone about what I'm going to tell you. If you don't believe me, fine," He shrugged, "Come with me."

"Sasuke! Are you really going to tell her?" Naruto shouted.

"You told Shikamaru, why can't I tell her?"

"Because Shikamaru, eh." He got him there, "Fine…" Sasuke and Tenten were both about to get out of the alley, "What about Sakura-chan?!"

"You know her more than I do Naruto," Sasuke said, "I'm sure you can find her easily."

Once Sasuke and Tenten were gone Naruto sighed, "Bastard." He mumbled under his breath and proceeded to go out of the alley as well.

He wandered back out to the streets and jumped on top of a random building. He laid down on it and began to think of where he could find Sakura. "Well, She isn't at the Uchiha place. I doubt she'd go to her mom… I HOPE she didn't go to her mom," He thought on it, "Nope, she couldn't have gone there…" After a moment of silence he suddenly shouted, "Damn it!"

(Haruno Residence)

Sakura entered her house and didn't even bother to say anything to her mother as she walked up to her room and shut the door. She didn't slam it, for that would prove to her mother something was wrong, so she closed it slowly and with minimum sound.

She walked over to her bed and sat down. Her face was void of emotion, for she was intelligent to know that the Curse Mark was already trying to get her to do things she would later regret – it reminded her almost of her inner self, but much more annoying and threatening.

She glanced out the window and noticed that it had began to rain, she must have not noticed, actually, how could she notice? She was trying her hardest to keep her chakra signature hidden from Naruto who would inevitably come looking for her; she also had to make sure that the Curse Mark wasn't making her sadness worse than it already was.

However, she knew that by coming home, she wanted to speak to Naruto as well. If he were to come up with a list of places she liked to go when she was angry or sad, her house would be near the top, if not at it.

She felt a faint smile come to her face when she remembered the horror on his face when she even mentioned her house, it wasn't that the place was bad, it was actually a pretty decent place to be, but the fact was that Sakura's mom was evil.

She wasn't evil in the sense that she would eat him alive, no, she was evil as in she would hug him to death rather than kill him outright.

Sakura held the smile up for a little bit longer before she thought back to how her mother has been acting around Naruto lately, she was certain Sasuke also noticed, for when she was going out on a date with Naruto a month ago she saw the look that crossed her mother's face for a mere second right before they left, and she knew Sasuke had as well, Naruto might have, but of course he may have also been too busy looking at other things.

She shook her head back to the topic she had come to mind before her mother. She had come home knowing Naruto would be coming here as well. She opened the window, knowing it was Naruto's favorite spot to enter when he didn't want her mom to know he was coming.

As if on cue, Naruto appeared outside of her window. He looked at her sadly before looking down himself and muttered, "Sakura-chan, about what happened earlier, I'm sorry."

"Naruto," She let the words come off her tongue; she hadn't spoken in what seemed like years, "It was my fault. I should have just-"

"No," Naruto said shortly before she was about to continue with her sentence, "I was too busy trying to berate the Old man, and, while I feel incredibly guilty now." His eyes glazed over, and another sad expression came across his face.

It was quite an unusual sight to see Naruto sad. It was like a remote without batteries. "Naruto," She said, snapping him back to reality, "You had a right to be angry, we all were." _And still are, _She mentally noted.

"It's just that the Old man thinks that he saved the village by following the village procedures and rules!" Naruto said, "But in the process of that, he kind of forgot that Orochimaru should have been his main goal!"

"You're right." Sakura sighed; she stood back from the window, pretty much the sign that she wanted him to come in the room. Naruto took the invitation and walked in. He was wet though, so Sakura quickly got some dry clothes of hers and set them on a chair Naruto could sit on.

He looked questioningly at her, and after a brief moment he sat on the chair with all her clothes on it. She sat on her bed and the both simply stayed like that, allowing the silence to reign over them. It wasn't a bad silence, a comfortable one really, both knew that each other was in the room, and for the precious moment, nothing bad would happen.

Unfortunately, all good things have to end. "Naruto, I am sorry for saying you should leave the village." Sakura spoke up, looking at the ground dejectedly.

"Sakura-chan it wasn't your fault at all. If anything, I should be the one on the floor begging for your forgiveness." He looked at her in the eyes when she looked back up, "I attacked you because Kyuubi was trying to influence me to," He cut away from her eyes, "He's getting stronger."

Sakura's eyes widened, the most emotion she had shown for the last few hours, "How?"

"I don't know. It has been steady though. When we first came here, to this timeline I mean, I could feel something in the depths of my mind. It was closer than I remembered it use to be," He then sighed, "Over the years though, it has been growing stronger, and now it has begun to send me one or two worded messages, usually to kill someone when I get angry."

Sakura stood up, anger seething off of her; she tried her best not to shout at the boy and said in a deathly whisper, "You have been hiding this from us all for so long?" Naruto was ready for a beating of his life, but suddenly felt arms wrap around him, Sakura didn't mind getting wet, the moment was too important for such small matters as that, "Naruto, what if it's something that could kill you? What would I do without your goofy smiles, or your stupid antics, or-"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered into her ear, "It's ok! I have been able to hold the fox back for this long, I know it will never be able to get pass me." He gave her a genuine smile.

Sakura felt like crying at that moment, Naruto had proclaimed that Kyuubi, the demon lord wouldn't take him over, and somehow the travel to this timeline had weakened his seal. She wanted to run some tests to make sure he was ok, but she knew she wasn't an expert in the field of seals.

"Naruto," She whispered, sitting on his lap, "Don't ever go away."

Naruto nodded, not wanting to ruin the moment that was made. He slowly stroked her hair and she simply had her head on his shoulder. She didn't cry – she and Naruto, even Sasuke were stronger than that, they all have seen the worse of the worst, and could stand up to anything.

After a little bit, the two fell asleep within each other's grasp. Naruto was probably going to wake up with a cold, but Kyuubi would cure that instantly for him. Sakura however, might not be as lucky.

(Tenten's apartment)

Sasuke and Tenten entered her apartment right when it began to rain. Well, not just rain, more like a downpour. That didn't stop Tenten from feeling any betrayal from Sasuke however. It probably did the opposite, it helped fuel her anger at him.

Tenten's apartment was actually a pretty decent place. It was the main room, which one entered, and it was connected with the kitchen to the left of the entrance. The bedroom was down the hall besides the kitchen, and so was the bathroom. The guest room, or what Tenten has dubbed the training room, for she had put all her weapons and such on display in there and the bed was replaced with a huge mat, was on the opposite side of the kitchen, it was the second largest room in the house, the main room being the largest.

Sasuke followed Tenten over to the Kitchen, which had a counter with several stools for chairs. The kitchen had all the basic supplies that any would need. There was a dishwasher, stove, oven, and a microwave to name a few of them. Tenten however pulled out two cups and began to boil water on the stove; she then got out two bags of tea and put them in the cups.

Sasuke sat on one of the stools and waited patiently for Tenten to finish her task. He knew that she was angry with him from this, for she would have been talking his ear off while doing this if she wasn't.

After a little bit she brought two hot cups of tea to both of them, and they sat opposite of each other. Sasuke occasionally drank his tea, as did Tenten.

After a small uncomfortable silence Tenten said, "So, you were going to explain to me exactly what is going on?" Sasuke nodded.

Sasuke sighed, "I don't know where to begin," He rubbed his eyes and after another moment of silence he said, "Three years ago, in a different, yet the same land, there was a Eighteen year old boy named Sasuke." Tenten gave him a very weird look, as expected, "He was an idiot, and he was completely consumed with revenge for the death of his clan."

"Sasuke, what the hell are you trying to pull here?" Tenten asked annoyance etched on her face.

Sasuke ignored her though and kept going on, "After a long while he finally killed his brother, and found that he had no other meaning to live, he agreed to help his master, Orochimaru by giving up his body to him." He judged her face before continuing, "Before he took over my body, he lured Naruto and Sakura to the Sound village where they were easily caught, both were trained under two of the stronger ninja in the lands, Tsunade and Jiraiya."

"Tsunade-sama?" Tenten asked, "She trained one of them, why?"

Again Sasuke ignored her, "Since they were trained under those two, they thought they could easily beat the hundreds of Sound Villagers to come to defend their home. Unfortunately, the two were caught and were to be executed in the middle of the village. Poor Sasuke was to be their executioner, I was to kill them at the age of eighteen," His face fell to his hands, finally break out of his narrative story, "I couldn't kill them, So I instead I turned around and stabbed Orochimaru, and brought them back in time, literally to a new timeline."

"They proved to me that I could make the right choice the second time around and choose them instead of power for only myself. I will never betray them again, and we promised to kill Orochimaru, who also happened to come back in time." Sasuke sighed; he had finished what he had wanted to say.

"Sasuke!" Tenten shouted, "You can't be telling me that you used some sort of Jutsu to come back in time five years from now because you made a few mistakes?"

Sasuke shook his head, "I told you that it might seem-"

"Impossible? Insane?" She shouted at him and slammed her fist on the counter, "I brought you here to tell me the truth! Not some pathetic story you just made up at the top of your head! I heard you two talking about Sakura, an attack, and something about telling Shikamaru!" She looked down sadly, her voice shaking, "Why won't you tell me?"

"Tenten," Sasuke sounded completely serious, "Do you seriously want to know? It could change you badly Tenten. You could-"

She leaned in towards him and kissed him on the lips and whispered, "You said I was special to you once Sasuke, you're special to me as well, and I know I can always depend on you for help if I need it."

Sasuke whispered back, "Ok, Ten-chan." He got up and went into the main room, which had a couch and a table in the middle of it, "You might want to get comfortable, it will be a long story." He sat down on the couch, seriousness still visible in his eyes.

Tenten went over and sat down right next to him and undid her hair, Sasuke paid no heed to it, he had seen her enough time with it down already. "I'm ready." She said.

Sasuke told her the whole tale, from start to finish. He told her much more than Naruto did to Shikamaru, for he knew that for her to truly know that he thought of her as a special person in his life, he would have to have no secrets from her, like she had done for him.

That was the second night that Sasuke had stayed with Tenten in her own apartment since they had been together.

(Late at Night, main road of Konoha)

A group consisting of two Sound Jounin and a Sand one was wandering down the road of the Konoha a little pass one in the morning. It was very unwise of them; however it also proved to other village's ninja that saw them know they thought they were powerful enough to hold off against any attacks. Unfortunately, they 'thought' they could.

The one leading was a Sound Jounin who, like all Sound villages Jounin, wore the office uniform, which was a gray tabard with a black shirt and pants underneath and a purple rope tied around their waist. The Sand Jounin looked like almost any other Konoha one, except that his vest was a light brown.

The group had been out drinking at one of the bars in the city when they were kicked out for closing. It did make them mad, but making a scene would make their villages look bad, so they left without a fight.

The three Jounin were halfway to their hotel when suddenly, a couple of black blurs went from left to right in their field of vision quickly, not allowing them to see who they were.

"What the!" The Sand Jounin pulled out a Kunai and held it in front of him, the two Sound Jounin followed suit as well.

"We're here because of the exam," One of the two sound Jounin called out, "We're not enemy of this village, so leave us be!"

Right after he finished saying that, he felt a blade plunge right through his back, going right through his spinal cord, killing him instantly. The other two Jounin had little time to react before the Sand Jounin was taken out, and the other Sound was held down to the ground, a katana held against his throat.

"Clean the corpses!" one of the ANBU who ambushed the three called out, "We don't anyone to know what happened to these people."

"What is going on?" The Sound Jounin was afraid. He was just having a good time when suddenly several ANBU came down and began to kill him and his friends.

The ANBU punched him in his chest; knocking the air clean out of him, "Don't bother trying to prove you're innocent, we know of your plans," The ANBU made a few hand signals to his allies, letting them know what he was doing. Once they nodded he teleported out of there with the prisoner with him.

The Sound Jounin closed his eyes for only a second and when he reopened them, he was in front of a desk, which was in front of a rather large window showing the whole village, and the one man he thought he wouldn't have to see at all.

"Did you dispose of the others?" The man said, blowing some smoke out of his mouth. He turned around and looked at the man on the ground in front of him. "Ah, it seems you did well." He said to the ANBU who bowed down to the man and disappeared from the office.

"Hokage," The Jounin muttered as he saw the man come around from behind his desk and walk around the captured Jounin. He looked very relaxed, he walked slowly, and showed many openings that the Jounin could attempt to take, but he knew the Hokage was only proving to him that he could easily kill him if he dared to anything.

For instance, the Hokage turned his back to him to walk back behind his desk, he could have grabbed a Kunai and attempted to plunge a Kunai through his neck, but that was, as previously mentioned, a very foolish thing to try.

"I don't understand Hokage-sama," The Sound Jounin said, "We were only going back to our hotel. Then suddenly we were attacked unprovoked, your ANBU have gone completely mad! I didn't do-" He shut up when the Hokage twisted around and threw a Kunai at him, piercing right through his foot, making him fall down from pain.

"How stupid do you think I am?" The Hokage questioned. The Sound Jounin ignored the man and held in his breath so he wouldn't scream. It was also evident that he was holding back his tears, "I know you and the Sand villages have joined forces to try and destroy Konoha."

The Jounin opened his eyes, his eyes narrowing at the powerful figure in front of him, "Why would you assume that," He writhed in pain a little more, "Hokage-sama." He pulled out the Kunai and dropped it on the ground; "I can go back to my village leader, and-"

"Who's your village's leader, my dear Sound Jounin?" The Hokage asked an almost sadistic smile played at his lips as he sat back down into the chair behind the desk, "I'm sure I can arrange something with him."

"He's," Then his face fell from an almost evil smile to a look of despair. He couldn't dare tell the man in front of him who his leader was, or he'd be killed! "He's none of your concern." He answered, making sure not to sound suspicious while saying it.

Sarutobi nodded as the Jounin stood once more, as if he was never in pain in the first place, "Of course, I'm guessing Orochimaru would kill you if he found out someone dared to tell me what position he had landed himself in."

"How?." The Jounin looked frightened. His confident aura was now reduced to one of fear, "I didn't give you any information!"

"You're right," Sarutobi sighed, his eyes lit up as he said; "I guess we'll have to change that won't we?" He looked away from the Sound Jounin and called out, "Ibiki! I have someone who would love to spend some time with you alone."

A cloud of smoke covered the room, and a man appeared. He took one step and heard screaming coming from the ground. Ibiki looked down to see a Sound Jounin screaming as he looked at him, "You're that guy! I don't want to be tortured!" he turned to the Hokage, "Please! I'll tell you anything!'

"Ibiki," Sarutobi said, making the Sound Jounin sigh in temporary relief, "Make sure you get all the information out of him. He's a Jounin of his village, and should act accordingly." He glared at the cowering man on the floor, "If you must, kill him, there's more of the maggots wandering our village."

Ibiki grinned sadistically. The Hokage gave him the equivalent of giving Naruto a year's supply of ramen.

"I'll do my best, Hokage-sama." He said before turning around and dragging the Sound Jounin by the collar out of the room.

Once they were out of the room, Kakashi appeared in there. He took one glance at the Hokage and sighed inwardly at what he saw. Sarutobi's face had multiple wrinkles upon them, as if he had been stressing the entire day, adding that the bags under his eyes and the dull looking eyes, Kakashi knew he had been up all night trying to figure out what to do.

Kakashi walked forth, dressed in his ANBU gear. He then asked, "We've got one of them to tell us all the information we'll need." Best start with the obvious then go into the point.

"Indeed." Sarutobi answered, and looked down at his paperwork. Konoha still had to accept missions, even though he knew an invasion was going to occur. With this knowledge he managed what Jounin, Chunin, and even Genin he wanted out of the village doing various missions away from home so they won't be killed. He wasn't an idiot; he knew who was strong enough and needed to stay and who wasn't.

"I'm planning on looking for the three of them, and offering to train them." He said, getting to the point when the Hokage did nothing to add on to the conversation.

Sarutobi nodded his head, "I understand your intentions, Kakashi, but those three would rather go off and do their own things than work with us." He looked out at the darkened village, "My foolishness may have cost us once, but now, I will act before the month is up to prevent the worse possible case from happening."

"What else are you planning?" Kakashi looked almost frightened.

"They told me, some years ago, that around this time I would die fighting Orochimaru, if you remember." He looked up at Kakashi, "I have no other idea on how to defeat him, and from what they told me, I will need to do it for the good of the village." He looked determined now; "I don't plan on just taking my students arms this time. I plan on killing him; he will die by my hands, like it was supposed to happen so many years ago."

Kakashi let out a small gasp, and whispered, "I thought you were going to try and prevent your death, for the good of the village." His eyes were downcast. He had gotten to really like the man in front of him, almost as a second father figure.

"I was." He said, "But, fate has been set, and I am to die here."

"NO!" Kakashi shouted, "They always claimed that this was a new timeline! You don't have to die again! Things can come out differently this time Hokage-sama!"

Sarutobi shook his head, "I have accepted my fate, Kakashi. I will die protecting this village, and Tsunade will be the next leader of the village. Like how history is supposed to go."

"Hokage-sama! If history were to stay the same, why do you think the three of them tried their best to change it? We saved many lives because of the different choices they have made, and we've done so much to help in the defense of our village! Why, why have you lost all hope now?"

The Hokage didn't answer at all. After several moments Kakashi bowed down and dismissed himself. If you were to see the Hokage through his window, you could see the tears coming down from his eyes as he tried to hold them in desperately.

(Early the Next Morning, Haruno Residence)

Naruto opened his eyes for a moment, then shut them once again and snuggled closer to the pillow he was on. After a little bit his eyes opened fully, and he looked down to see that he was on a bed, he looked over and saw that Sakura was on it as well, still fast asleep.

He was confused for one thing, exactly how did he get into the bed? He glanced around the room and confirmed it was definitely Sakura's. He nodded to himself and slowly got out, so not to disturb Sakura, if she woke up, it would be an awkward silence, especially after the event of last night.

_She's knows Kyuubi has been acting up lately, _He sighed, _I'm glad I finally told someone. _Once he was out of the bed, he went over to the door to her room. He wanted to jump out the window, into the distance, but it was still dark and the breeze might wake her up. If he were not a ninja himself, she would have definitely woke up to his movements.

He exited the door of her room and closed it softly; he looked down the narrow hallway. The house was a pretty decent place, however, some of it felt more cheaply made than others, and the upstairs hallway was definitely one of these rooms. It was so narrow that only one person could go through at a time, and to make matters worse, there were pictures on the wall that you couldn't knock down on your way through as well.

He did manage to get through this though; he had been in Sakura's house several hundred maybe thousand times? He didn't know, but he hated coming here every time for the single fact that Sakura's mother was really, the creepiest woman he knew.

"Naruto," A voice called out, he had his hand on the knob of the door, and he quickly jumped back, his eyes were wide, and his breaths came out in short burst. He was so focused on being quiet that he didn't hear the person coming up to him.

"Morning Mrs. Haruno." He said while getting up. "How are you?"

She looked down for a moment, making Naruto frown. "Naruto," She said, "I need to speak with you."

"Of course," He said, straightening up, "What do you need?" She didn't answer, but only beckoned him to follow her into the kitchen of her household. He sat down as she went over to the steaming stove and came back over with two cups of tea; he knew this meant he would be here for a while.

She took a sip of her tea before sitting across from him. She only looked at him, not with the glare she used to give him so long ago when he was merely nine, no, she just studied his every movement. From picking up his cup to how he drank.

This all was beginning to make Naruto rather uncomfortable, "Eh, Mrs. Haruno."

"Naruto," She said, interrupting him, "I don't know why, but my daughter loves you." Naruto gave her a confused look, which was pretty much say, 'no duh, Sherlock', "I use to think of you as the demon fox, but time and time again, you've proven me and the villagers wrong."

Naruto's eyes widened, this was getting serious if she mentioned that name out loud, "What are you trying to tell me?" He asked, getting only slightly worried.

"I have noticed that the villagers are beginning to act out towards my daughter and me," She said, "They are not allowing me to buy supplies that I need at local markets because my daughter is associating with you." She said, "I'm afraid." She finally admitted.

"Mrs. Haruno, There's nothing to be afraid of, they're all talk and no action they won't-"

She raised her hand up to stop his speech, "Naruto, if you really love my daughter, you need to stop being with her when you're done with missions."

The first thing that crossed Naruto's mind was anger, his eyes turned red for only a second as he glared at her, then he quickly reverted to confusion, "But-"

"I have seen what they can do." She said, "I watched when you were young, and you were hurt, and harassed by the people of this village. Some of my closest friends were among them, and they have all outcast me from their group, and when I get near them, I can see in their movement and the hatred in their eyes they have for me, I know that they are wanting to hurt me, but are only holding themselves back by a thread."

"But," Naruto began, "You can report them to the Hokage! Sakura-chan, she's strong. I know she can manage to beat them up if they even dare to hurt you!"

She glared at the boy, "That is hardly the point!" She nearly yelled, "They want to hurt us, and that is proof enough that this family doesn't need you to do this to us!"

"Fine," Naruto stood up, sadness was obvious in his face, "I thought you've changed your opinion of me," He laughed, "Who am I kidding? You're just like the rest of them."

"The rest of whom?" She asked.

"The villagers," Naruto answered, he could feel the rage building up inside of himself once more, Kyuubi was using his anger and sadness against him, but he knew the fox was doing, and could easily repel it, "They all hate me. Even when I get to know them and show them that I am a good person, they'll always go back and follow the rest of the pack like the sheep they are."

She began to shake, but she stood her ground, this was not Naruto speaking was it? "Naruto, this is nothing against you." She muttered, "I am worried about my family, my only daughter!"

"Don't bother trying to tell me." Naruto told her, "I'm a demon aren't I?" He walked out of the house and shut the door. He didn't slam it, for he still respected the woman deeply, but this was the second betrayal he had within two days, and it was really beginning to get to him.

"Fine," He said walking down the road, the sun coming up out in the distance, "If she doesn't want me to be near Sakura-chan, I won't be near her. At least this way I won't be able to make her mad and give the mark power." He wanted to scream, or cry out, but just continued on to what he had to do, _My problems are not important, _He reminded himself, _I need to save the village._

With that thought he jumped on top of a nearby building and looked around until he saw the place he wanted to go to. _The bathhouse, Jiraiya, you'd better be there! _He began to jump off towards the place.

(Tenten's apartment)

Sasuke opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light pouring into the room. He got up and looked around, he was on the couch from last night, yes, that much he remembered. He looked down and saw Tenten figure leaning next to him, still asleep, but that changed when she started to move about when the sunlight got caught in her eyes.

He checked himself; he still had on all his clothes. He looked to Tenten, yep she did too. Good, that means that they didn't get carried away or anything. He sighed in relief; give it another five years before that.

"Tenten," He whispered, allowing her to open her eyes and look up at him, "I need to leave. I need to begin training for 'it'."

"No," She muttered getting up and wiping the sleep away from her eyes, "Train me too, I need to be stronger so I can help you guys out."

Sasuke shook his head, he was still amazing she had accepted him even after all the things he had told her he had done in the past timeline, "There's no way I can get you to become as strong as an ANBU within a month from your current skill level, if you were Naruto though, I guess something like that could be possible."

Tenten looked down sadly, "So what do you want me to do?"

"Try to stay away from the fighting, there will be real enemy ninja out and they will kill all the ninja that get in their way, whether it's a Genin, or ANBU it doesn't matter, just don't get involved." Sasuke said getting up and walking towards her door, "You have a month to train, and unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to achieve my goals, and I need to train myself, please Tenten, don't get into trouble."

"Where are you going now?" She asked, getting off the couch and walking towards him.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm going to find Naruto and Sakura, and we'll figure out what the hell we're going to do now."

She nodded, "Ok Sasuke." She faintly smiled, "Make sure you don't get into any trouble."

"Of course." Sasuke said going out of the door, he closed it lightly behind him and left the girl in her apartment alone. After a moment she shook her head and grabbed a scroll and titled it, 'training schedule'.

Outside, Sasuke walked down from the second story and was about to go out on the roads when suddenly a figure jumped right in front of him. He didn't even look up at the person before simply saying, "Kakashi."

"Hello Sasuke," Kakashi greeted, "I've come here to offer to train you. I know what I did before was wrong, but I am going to make it right by making sure you guys will be prepared to deal with whatever is thrown at you."

"No thanks." Sasuke said walking right pass him, "I already know most of what you can teach me, and plus you're on an equal level with all of us if not a little stronger, what can I possibly learn from you?"

In a split second Kakashi charged at Sasuke with a Kunai in hand and attempted to put it on the throat of the child, but Sasuke twisted away from the hold and managed to get a Kunai at Kakashi's throat, the only downside was that Kakashi also held his up at his neck.

The two looked deep into each other's eyes before both lowered their weapons, "I see what you mean Sasuke." Kakashi muttered, "But even so, we all need to train with one another in order to truly become an ANBU team."

"I wasn't aware that you were still part of our team." Sasuke said bitterly before moving on.

Kakashi followed Sasuke until he was walking on the left side of the child. The two were silent until they got to the main street of the village. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, his face in a frown, annoyed that Kakashi was still following him.

Various people looked at the two, and then proceeded to do what they were out to do; it was not wise to get in the business of ninja, even if they were of your own village.

Kakashi walked right next to Sasuke, normally, if the situation wasn't so serious he would have his favorite book out and read it to annoy the child next to him even more, but he knew that Sasuke really wasn't going to like that and may even attack him if provoked.

Sarutobi often praised that they were to become to new Sanin, but that wasn't really going to happen if they weren't going to be willing to help the village in its dire time of need, and Sasuke here was not willing to work with him.

"Sasuke," Kakashi finally spoke, he noticed Sasuke didn't give any indication that he was listening to him, besides the fact that he lead the man into an alley. Once he stopped and leaned against a wall, Kakashi continued, "You need to get over your childish hatred right now, your village is going to be attacked, and we all need to work together through this time!" He sighed, "It seems only Sakura is the one that realized this-"

"She may have realized it, Kakashi." Sasuke spoke up, "But is she working with you?"

Kakashi stopped talking at that moment. Sakura had said that they needed to work with the Hokage and the rest of the village, but she never did attempt to do so. Was she going to go through what she said?

"I don't know," Kakashi finally answered truthfully, "Please, Sasuke." He said again, "We need you. I'll do anything!"

He got down on the ground and kneeled down to Sasuke who rolled his eyes and looked away. He didn't like making people beg, it made them look pathetic, and made him look like an asshole. He didn't mind the latter, but the former did really bug the hell out of him, probably more than the fan girls back in the academy.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi, the so called Sharingan Kakashi, one of the most powerful Jounin- no, scratch that, ANBU in the village, and he was kneeling down to him, begging for him to work with him. He looked away and back at the sky.

He looked at the clouds moving along, and for a second he could understand why Shikamaru liked doing this kind of thing. It gets the mind off of stressful topics, and allows one to think things through easily, or simply relax; it was always the person's choice.

"Ok." He sighed, "I'll work with you for now, though I'm not sure if Naruto or Sakura will."

(Haruno Residence, once again…)

Sakura walked down into the kitchen where she saw her mom. She looked rather stiff, her movements were really slow and seem like a robot, and she seem to too busy thinking about something to notice Sakura was right beside her. Sakura shrugged and walked over the table and sat down.

"Mom." She called out.

Mrs. Haruno jumped slightly, her eyes widening before she turned around to see Sakura sitting down on the table in the kitchen, she sighed and said, "Did you have to scare me dear?"

"Sorry." She smiled a little before her face fell again, "Did you see Naruto? He stayed the night, and when I woke up he was nowhere to be seen."

"Oh," She turned towards her daughter, "Well, he woke up rather early this morning and came down and told me that he was going out to train or something like that." She said.

Sakura studied her for a minute before saying, "Really." She shrugged and went to the cabinet to get some food to eat for breakfast. She stole a few glances at her mom when she wasn't looking, and knew that she was keeping something from her, it wasn't like it would take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

"Sakura." She turned around, "What are you going to do today?" She walked over and sat next to her daughter and gave her a smile, which wasn't returned.

"I don't know." She said, "Maybe go find Naruto and Sasuke and train together for something."

Her mother nodded, "Sounds interesting." She said, tapping the counter with her fingernails, further proving to Sakura that something was wrong.

"Ok," Sakura sighed, "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" She repeated, "Nothing's wrong my dear, just a few things I can't keep off my mind."

"Like what?" Sakura asked, trying to pry through her defenses without threatening to kill her. Interrogating a mother is a lot harder than many people make it out to be.

After saying that a short silence came up before a knock came on the door, "Why don't you get that Sakura?" Her mother asked, sounding relieved that it happened.

Sakura got up, obviously upset, and not bothering to hide it from her mother. _She's hiding something, and I will find out what it is! _She mentally told herself and cleared her mind of the anger, remembering the seal on her neck.

She opened the door and was surprised to see Kakashi and Sasuke standing there. Kakashi gave her a short wave while Sasuke nodded at her.

"We're here to get you to train with us. We need it for," Kakashi looked at Mrs. Haruno and said, "The third part of the exam."

"Right," Sakura said, quickly going out and shutting the door behind her, not even telling her mother where she was going to be. "What's going on?" She asked once the door was securely closed.

Kakashi and Sasuke beckoned her to follow them away from her house, which she did willingly, not wanting to be near her mother right now.

Once the three of them were a safe enough distance Sasuke turned to face Sakura and said, "I've agreed to train with Kakashi for the invasion, we're wondering if you are willing to join us in our training."

Sakura looked down in thought, and when she looked back up it was obvious what her answer was going to be, she looked both determined and strong willed, her eyes were narrowed, and a smile played across her face as she said, "Sure. I need it."

"Well," Kakashi muttered, "That was much easier than I expected it to be."

"Why'd you agree so quickly?" Sasuke asked, in a state of shock, his face didn't betray it, but his voice definitely did. It had a fair amount of disbelief in it.

She shrugged, "In the forest I was useless to you guys," She frowned, "I don't intend for that to happen again." She said, determination seeping into her voice.

"That's not all true, Sakura." Sasuke said, "You helped me when I was about to die due to the poison, if it weren't for you, I would have died there."

"Well," Kakashi sighed, "Shall we go find Naruto?"

Sasuke and Sakura both nodded in agreement and the area was left empty.

(Hot Springs)

Naruto entered the Hot Springs and looked around, knowing that Jiraiya was going to be here. He walked along the place, the steam swirled in the air wherever he walked, and the water was almost boiling hot. _How relaxing. _He sighed looking down at the water, but he shook his mind clean and focused on his one target in mind.

He didn't have to look hard, after only a few minutes he saw the wall the separated the men's and the woman's side of the spring, and knew instantly that the perverted giggling he was hearing was none other than Jiraiya. He walked along the wall until the giggling was as loud as it could possibly get. He walked into the bush on the men's side and pulled out Jiraiya.

"I need to speak to you." He said, not listening to the desperate cries of the old man. He examined him and sighed, he looked exactly the same as ever, the red streaks went down from his eyes to the bottom his face, he had the long white hair, and the clothes – it was all the same.

"What is it brat! Can't you see that I am-"

"Researching," Naruto finished, "I see." Jiraiya gave the boy a weird look before his face lit up and Naruto knew he had figured it out.

He sat down crossed legged on the ground, beckoning Naruto to do the same, which he did. Then he said, "Ah. You're the child Sarutobi-sensei was telling me about," He rubbed the bottom of his face, "Hm, you don't look like much."

Naruto grinned, "I'd watch what you say pervert." He then became serious again and said, "So, he told you everything about me? About the future and what is going to occur?"

"Yes." Jiraiya confirmed, "He told me, but you're going to have to prove to me that I actually decided to teach a shrimp like you. You look like a little bratty kid who can't even stand up to a girl."

Naruto glared at him and then said, "I now realize why Tsunade always hits you, you say the stupidest things. I'm pretty sure I could get Sakura-chan to-" he stopped speaking when he said her name and merely shook his head, "Anyway, what do I need to do to prove that I am your student?"

"Well. If you can really do Rasengan, prove it to me." He crossed his arms and a smirk came upon his face, obviously amused that some kid like Naruto could do it.

Naruto nodded and stood up. Once he was standing, he raised one of his arms and focused chakra into it. First it began to spin around his hand, then it began to spin more rapidly as he added more chakra as it turned into a near perfect circle, he held it up while Jiraiya examined it.

"Well." Jiraiya said, sounding very impressed, "That's pretty good." He was nodding and walked over to the water. "Can you walk on water via chakra yet?"

"Yes." Naruto answered, not even bothering to wait for Jiraiya to say prove it as he walked on it to the other side and back.

After a few more demonstrations, Jiraiya finally accepted the fact that Naruto was indeed his student in the other timeline. After a little bit he said, "Well Naruto, Let's head to the forest and see where your skill really is. We'll fight, and I promise that I won't hold back."

"Jiraiya," Naruto said, almost pleadingly sounding, "There's something I need you to see for me," With Jiraiya's attention on him, he continued, "When we came back into this timeline I felt that Kyuubi was closer than before. Each passing year he gets closer, and now I can hear him talking when I get enraged, or am anger or sad. I don't know what to do, and I only now realized that I need you to help me."

"Well come on," Jiraiya sighed as he rubbed his forehead, "We'll look into that as well."

The two walked out of the hot springs, Jiraiya had forgotten all about what he was doing previously. He was actually incredibly serious when the situation called for it, and the situation with the fox within Naruto seemingly getting more powerful was definitely under his category of important.

He'd have to speak about the boy when they're away from the village, out training for what was to come about other things. He needed to know all about Akatsuki, Orochimaru, and other threats to the village that the children might know of.

For now though, he had to keep things at a simple level.

---END---

Documented changes:

-Grammar fixes.

-Added a few new lines of dialogue here and there, got rid of the bit in the beginning with Naruto trying to strangle the Hokage.

FINALLY finished revising the rest of the story! I just want to have a small recap here of all the people who know about them being from the future: Jiraiya, Sarutobi, Kakashi, Tenten, Choji, Shikamaru, and Ibiki. I will finally be able to update this story with a real chapter now, I am eager to begin writing this again, though the new chapters will probably be shorter in length than these most chapters. 14 – 16k is just so much to write, I will probably set my minimum at 8k, and work from there.

See you all in the next chapter!


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